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TIKHMUITS 



()\ THE COiN N HCTlnX 



LIFE. MIND, AND MATTE 11; 



lu'OiJctt 10 ^Ltiuatioii, 



Uy .i. P. BATL'llJ'J>l>i;i;, i\i. D. 



.i-<L, 



■-■ Tiip iiin' co;iqui-sts, the only oiii'S whicli do iint cause a tear, are those 
which are <;ahieil over ignorance. The most honorahlo, as well as the mostuse- 
!'ul occupations of men, is to coiUrii)iite to the e.xlciisioji ol' ideas.'" — Napoleon. 



U T 1 C A ; 

iiENNEM, i:A l>r;-, ^; JIAWLEV, IT.ANiU.l.N . nl'AKii. 






VV^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, 

By J. P. BiTCIIELDER, M. D. 

In the Clerk's Office of Ihe Northern District of New York. 



's, C\ --jiu, 






r~ 



FH F,F AC !■: 



The design of the uuthoj', in writing' ;ui(l puhlishiiip; ihc liillinv. 
ing pages, is lo direct the atteiitidii ol'iJiihlie teacliers ami others, 
wiioso duties connect them witli the education of youth, and of 
the public in general, siiould he h(! so fortunate as to reaeli tiie 
public nnnd, to tliose physiological principles, wliicdi, according 
to his view, constitute the very starting point at vvhii-h all edu- 
cational movements should originate, and to conlriliuie sujne- 
Ihing towards supplying a delect, whicii, it appears to him, ex- 
ists in our systems of education. If lie iias lailccl in Iho e\(n-u- 
tionof that design, he imiulges the hope, ihat his lunnbh' hdmrs 
will put some abler jien in motion, and cnnsciiui'nllv, be nui 
wholly lost. 

Early in his jirofessional career, he «as i!(t|i|\ inipri'ssid 
with the conviction, that a knowledge of jdiysiology was as 
necessary to a correct understanding of the phenomena of dis- 
ease, as Ihose of health ; and therefore, that all medical theories 
should be closely connected with, if not absolutely based on that 
science; which conviction induced him to study it with more 
than ordinary attention, and caused its principles not only to 
pervade most of his pathological reasonings, but inllueiuc, un- 
duly perhaps, his metaphysical researches. 

This circumstance led him in the first instance, to conleni- 
plate mental cultivation in the light of [ihysiology, and finally 
induced him to connect its principles with those of education ; 
tiie beneficial eft'ects experienced in the education of himself, 
(for he is self-educated,) and others have fully satisfied him of 
the utility and importance of that connection ; and as the culture 
of the intellect should commence in the nursery, and be carried 
on in the parlor as well as in the school or college, the sidijecl 
commends itself to the consideration ol' pai'enls, as well ;is pi(]- 
fcssed teachers. 



Prrl'itcf. 

In considering lliis subject, lie has tVoni time to time, availed 
himself of information derived from various writers on physiolo- 
gy, botli ancient and modern, and endeavored to make such use of 
it, as seemed best calculated to subserve the objects in view ; 
but from his habits of reading and thinking, by which he has 
constantly essayed to make others thoughts and reflections his 
own, and to give them a tinge of originality in their passage 
through his mind, without regarding the sources whence they 
were derived, he is unable to make those acknowledgements of 
indebtedness, which may be due to particular authors; believ- 
ing, however, that no writer on physiology of any note, whether 
ancient or modern, has been overlooked in his study of that 
science, he cheerfully acknowledges his obligations to all, but 
more particularly to Haller, Blumenbach, Soemmering, Richer- 
and. Parry, Park, Bichat, Bell, Muller, and Carpenter. He 
also desires to express his obligation to several literary gentle. 
men, for their advice and suggestions ; and particularly to the 
Rev. Professor Mandeville, of Clinton College, for his assistance 
in correcting his manuscript. 

Unlearned in philology, and uninstructed in the rules of 
composition, the writer is forward to acknowledge, that in many 
instances, he has experienced (partly, lie thinks, from the ab- 
struseness of the subject,) considerable difficulty in exjjressing 
his ideas with a clearness, which has been satisfactory even lo 
himself; but he trusts, that with the help derived, from the 
sources alluded to, his language has been made so plain, as to 
enable his readers to apprehend his meaning without much 
trouble. As a literary production, its pretensions are so few, 
and withal, so humble, that he supposes no one will open upon it 
the battery of criticism, by which it might be soon demolished ; 
nevertheless, as truth is his object, he will not feel hurt, but 
gratified, if its faults, and especially its errors, be detected and 
pointed out, in the spirit of philosophic candor. The subject is 
important, and worthy of more extended discussion, than the 
author is able to bestow. 



i'ui;i.is[[i:us' ai)Vi;ktisi;mi;m'. 



'I'liis irciUi.se is presented to tlie public, under tiie lull tonvic- 
(iun, that tlic subject, although one of the utmost importance to 
persons engaged in the education of children and youtli, eitlier 
as parents or teachers, is yet one, of which comparatively noth- 
ing is known. 

The Author has long sustained a high reputation for extensive 
reading, and scientific research, and for the practical application 
of their results to the affairs of every day life. The views here 
presented, are the fruits of long and mature reflection, thorough 
investigation, and much practical experience as a teacher, and it 
is believed, that although sonic of them may be considered bold 
and original, they will be found to bear the test of rigorous ex- 
amination, and the closest scrutiny. If we mistake not, many 
of the physiological views, will likewise be interesting to the 
medical man, as well as the general I'eader. 

Utica, .September, 1H45. 



THOUGHTS ON THE ('ONNEt:TIOi\ 



OF 



LIFE, MIND AND MATTER. 



I HAVE been long convinced, that iho legitimate object of 
education, is not to give tlie pupil knowledge; but to teach 
him liiiw to ar(|iiii(' it, how tii enii>li)y tlie faculties with 
wtiich he has been endowed. To do this, the inslructor 
himself should lie conversant with the laws by which the 
iiiculties are governed ; which implies a knowledge of physi- 
ology, not possessed by many who liave not been led by 
their professional jiursuits to acquire it. Having l>een con- 
siderably employed in early life as a, teacher in the public 
schools in New England, and for thirty-five years past, 
almost daily engaged eilher as a, public nr j)rivate instructor 
in liMchinir the science to which 1 am devoted, I have been 
induced to bestow some thoughts on the connection of life, 
mind and matter, and the laws by \vhich they are governed 
in thai conni'ctinii, relalivcly t" i'(hii-;iii(in. 1 am aware that 
the union <<f lili'. mind and matirr, is a subject involved in 
great dilli(-'ul.tv : that it has brcn cdnsidered bv some, as 
among the arcana ul nature, which science cmild neither 
unfold noi' (.'ven reach. It iii;iy, therefore-, seem pii'snm]i- 
tuous ill me U> atiempt to lill the veil. But the man 'd 
science, liowevm' humble his pretensions, need not be deter- 
red in his reach alter kiiowiedn'e, uulil he ha> arrived at that 
boundary upon wliicli has beiai legibly inscribed the inhibi- 
tion, " thus far shall th(ju come and no farther." God crc- 
u 



(j Tliouglils OH the Conncctiuu 

iitcd iii:ilier lor the inanilbstalion ol' his own glorious attri- 
liiitos, and, that this manilestation might never cease, he has 
stamped it with the impress of perpetuity. Its existence de- 
pi lids npon his will alone ; and in order to make it capable 
ci|' such maniiestalion, it was necessary to endow it witli 
certain pro])erLies wiiich should rise in tlic scale ot' impor- 
tajice in proportion to the number of his attributes that he 
designed to illustrate. To display his power and wisdom 
only, it was merely requisite to invest it with those proper- 
ties uj)on which the jihenomena of mere matter depend, 
:iud fri.ini the exertion of whose energies may be interred 
the physical laws by which those phenomena arc governed. 

These jiropertics and the laws to which they give rise, 
ru'c no less permanent than matter itself The properties 
to which we now allude, arc two only, viz: attractability 
a.nd repulsability ; and the endless forms and varieties wliich 
the phenomena of inanimate matter present are the result of 
1 wo functions only : attraction and repulsion, which spring 
from the properties above mentioned. We arc totally 
ignmanl of the essences of these properties, because wc are 
destitute ol' oi'gans by which we can take cognizance of 
ihem. 

For the manifestation of God's goodness, it was necessary 
to (;onncct the vital principle with matter. Whether vitahty 
exists, distinct i'rom, and independent of matter, is beyond 
c:ur power to determine : nor is it at all necessarv that we 
should, bec;'.use it is manifested to us in no other way than 
through the medium of matter. Connected with a substance 
whose projicrties, functions and laws are ever the same, the 
|ii'(ipcrtic::-, tuuctions, and laws of life as manilcsted through 
the instrumentality of this connection, are no less permanent 
and immutable than the connection itself God's plan in 
regard to lite, is no less simple than it is in respect to in- 
iinimate matter. The jirojterties essential to vitality, are 
sensibility and mobility ; and the essential functions growing 
■ •ut of these projierties, are sensation and motion; by the 
modilications of which all the operations and phenomena of 



(jf Lijc. Mind diul Mallei-. 7 

iil'c are pcrlormeJ aiul fxliilntcd. [•^-om llif smds ui iIr'Sc. 
all its laws may be ileduced. 

To accomplish the dcsiiin of mauill.'sliug vil.dity tlifoi,it;li 
tlie instrumentality ol' matter, (jrttanization was necessary : 
hence, all animated matter is organized. (Jreanizalion, 
which is the act or process of arranging or forming the 
particles of matter into instruments of action, hy vvlii<-h 
some operation is performed, or process carried on. nr hy 
the agency of which some design is accomplished, implies 
the existence of mind in the being who organized, but not 
in the thing organized ; for vegetables are organized bodies, 
and are consequently endowed with that species of vitality 
which is connected with, or perhaps springs from organiza- 
tion ; but they manifest no indications of mind ; and why ? 
Because God has withheld from the matter of which they 
arc compo.sed. organs by which it can be produced or mani- 
fested. Without such organs, organized bodies were capa- 
ble of showing forth his power and wisdom in a higher de- 
gree, and in a more jieri'ect manner than were the properties 
with which he had invested mere inanimate inorganic mat- 
ter. For the manifestation of His goodness, it was neces- 
sary that matter should be invested with pro]ierties through 
which it might be aflcctcd by that goodness : otherwise, it 
could iiever give any evidence of the existence ot' that 
attribute. That matter should be capable of manifesting 
other attributes of God, such as his justice and mercy, it 
was necessary that mind as well as I;!i\ should in some way 
or other be connected with it ; and it appears that vitality 
constitutes the connecting link between mind and matter. 
In what consists the essence of life or of mind we know 
not, and probably never shall, because the Creator has 
withheld from us the organs by which thoy can be recog- 
nized as separate and distinct existencies. We can take 
cognizance of them only through the medium of matter, and 
precisely in the same way as we do of gravitation, ch(>mi- 
cal aflinify, electricity, etc. Whether llu-y can indeed exist 
independently of matter, we can not fiir tlif^ rensnn O'^siirned. 



8 Thovghh on the Conncclion 

tell. All analos;y, and ilic immutabilit)' of Deity warrant 
the belief tiiat they have no such separate existence ; and 
that a connection of some kind or other with matter will be 
as necessary for their maniii'stations in a future, as in the 
present world.* We think tliat inspiration fully maintains 
this view of the subject; for we are told by the Apostle, 
■*hat we shall be changed ; that this corruptible must [Hit on 
incorruption, and this mortal immortality. When the last 
trump shall sound, we shall be all chani^ed in the twinkling 
of an eye, and then our bodies rclined and sublimated by 
that change, will rise " to be our house immortal and eter- 
nal." If life and mind do not exist except in connection 
with matter, and of course subject in a greater or less de- 
gree to its influence, of what vast conserjuence is it to us, 
and to all concerned in educating the mind, that we become 
acquainted with them in this connection, and with the laws 
jjy which they are governed ! It is this importance of the 
subject with reference to education, which has prompted 
ine to trace out and illustrate as far as I maj^ be able, the 
laws by which life, mind and matter in connection, are 
governed. Although it might be interesting and instructive 
to trace the connection of life with matter from the vegeta- 
ble, (destitutt' of mind) through the ascending series up to 
man, " creation's lord," yet ps it is not closely connected 
with our subject we shall forbear, and proceed to remark 
that the human body is a machine formed by God himself, 
as an instrument for the manifestation of the phenomena of 
vitajity and mind. As it is composed of matter connected 
with life and mind, it has been supposed to be necessarily 
governed by tlu'ee ditlerent kinds of laws, viz : such as 
govern inanimate matter, such as govern life, and such as 
govern mind. Like other matter, it is. to be sure, obedient 
to the laws of gravitation. &c., but notwithstanding its com- 



* Dr. Adam Clarke says. " God ilii> imorcaled Spirit manifests Himself by 
material sulislanccs. Created spirits must lie manifested in the same way ; and 
though matter may ejyist without spirit, and spirit without matter; y<"<, without 
the latter, spirit rati not (lecome manil'est.'' 



(if Llfi; Mind ami Mailer. !l 

plexily of organs, ami its Iril'old i-.unipdsitioii, wo l)clit'Vi' 
tliat. no such complication of laws is iioccssary l<ir llic roLru- 
lation of its movements. Wc have said tli.-it llicn> are iinl\ 
two properties, scnsihility and moliility ; nnly two fiinctiDns, 
sensation and motion, which result from the c(jnil)iiiatiiin of 
life with matter, and that upon the various modilications of 
these, all the phenomena of life depend.* These properties 
and fnnetions arc common to every organ of the hody, and 
of course the hrain, the organ of mind, is as much under 
their control in the jieribrmance of its function, the jiroduc- 
tion of thought, as the liver in the production of bile; and 
tile laws by which the operations of the fi.ii"nier. the br:iin_ 
are governed are precisely the same as those by which the 
actions of the latter are regulated. The secretion of bih^ 
is performeil by the cnpillaries of the liver ; llie jmiduclion 
of ideas by those of the brain. The structure or organiza- 
tion of the liver is such, that if a certain portion of its 
capillaries act at all, they must secrete bile ; in like maimer. 
the structure or organization of the Ijrain is such, that if a 
certain ])ortion of its capillaries act at all, they must produce 
ideas, and can do nothing else, hence the uninterrupted How 
of thought during our waking hours : witli this difference. 
however, that we can (as will be seen) acquire an inlluence 
over the actions of the capillaries of the brain so as to make 
them produce such trains of thought as we please, wdiile 
those of the liver go on forming bile indejiendently of the 
will. [See Ajipendix.] The reason of this might be ex- 
plained if required, by the drift of our subject. The doc- 
trine we mean to promulgate is, that the pniduction of 
thought and the operations of the mind, ns fnnction of the 
brain, are originated by the same causes, inliuenced in tlu' 
same way. regulated by the same prinei|iles, nnd gov(>i-ne(l 



* To carry out the analogy ami simplicity ol' ilie design, we sliould say, mela- 
physically speaking, that the properties of llic mind are two only, perceptibility 
and reflectibility ; and that its functions were only two, perception and reflec- 
tion ; and that all the plienomena of thonglit depended upon the nindilleationsof 
those two properlies and these two lunclions. 



10 Thouglils 1,11 thr Connectiiin 

hy ihc sninr laws, as are all tlio dlher operations and Ibnc- 
lions of tile liotiy. In order to estahiish and olueidate this 
■doctrine, it will be proper an<l neeessary to show how the 
properties and li\neti<ins (if lill", oi- cii' the living body are 
modified and govei-ned ; how changes ot" action are ctlected, 
and the laws by which tlu^y arc governed : and to point out 
tiie causes by which those ciianges arc produced, and the 
laws by which those causes are governed ; and in conclu- 
sion, endeavor en passant to prove that all these modifica- 
tions, actions, and changes of actions, and the causes by 
which those changes of actiou arc ctlected ; and the laws 
by which all are governed, are equally applicable to the 
production of thought, and emotion in the mind, as they are 
to the performance of function in all the other organs of the 
body. The two essential properties of vitality, viz : sensi- 
bility and mobility are so modified by structure, that 
every organ in the human body has a sensibility and mo- 
bility peculiar to itself, and therefore a mode of sen- 
sation and motion which can belong to no other organ of a 
different structure, consequently a function vyliich no other 
can perform. This modification of vital properties and 
functions by structure is of a permanent character, and is. 
therefore, a provisic.m of the Creator, and an illustration of 
his foresight, wisdom and goodness, to prevent the blending 
of the functions of ditierent organs, and the confusion. 
which, but for it, must have ensued. The proof tliat the 
properties and fiuictions of an organ are nioditicd by struc- 
ture, may be demanded. If, then, the same sensatitm in an 
organ or tissue be produced by a variety of causes other 
than the true physical cause, and in its entire absence, and 
indeed by mere change of action in the organ itself, and 
without any known or appreciable cause whatever, the 
inference, we think, is obvious and irresistible, that this 
sameness of sensation is owing to the peculiar structure of 
the organ which so modifies its action, that if it act at ail, 
it must act in the same way. and consecjiientlv always pro- 
duce the same sensation, and hence It v^ that there arc, as 



of' Life, Mind and Matter. 1 1 

li:is liri'ii ali'cady liiiilcd, uo mistaken, no hlciulin;^' ol' Ciinc- 
limis ill lilt; system; rach orijjaii iTert'oniiiiii;' its own appro- 
prialc anil pi'culiar liinrtidii lur the \'t'i'y best <>l all ri'a.sons, 
hccnuseil iiiiisl Ad that or nothing. 

The ey(\ lor instanri.', i?; aeknowledged hy all to lie the 
oi'U'an adapted to prixhice or (>\'perieiiec the sensaliou ot" 
light, and this might lie inferred ahnost a priori, by any one 
aeipuiiiited with its anatomical structure, and the laws of 
linlil. lor it is a j)erfect optical instrument. A cintain soine- 
ihing emenating I'roiii a luminous body, and entering into 
this organ, produces a luminous appearance, which is term- 
ed the sensation of light.* Tliis emeiiatioa is called light, 
and is the true physical irause of the sensation above men- 
tioned ; but it is a well known fact, that this luminous aj>- 
pcarance in tlic eye can be jiroduced by mauy (-ausesothcv 
than the true physical cause, and indeed in its total absence, 
as by the galvanic shock : a blow on the eye, or even on the 
back of the head, by a I'all on the ice, as most people can 
probably testify. This sameness of sensation from so many 
ditierent causes, must arise from tlie peculiar structure of 
I he organ, and is, therefore, a proof of the modification of 
property and function by structure. 

The ear is the organ destined to produce or exjtcrience the 
sensation of sound, the physical cause of which, is the undula- 
tions of air impinging against the niemiirana iNinpani, ov 
drum of the ear, as it is commonly called; but how often do 
we hear j.aticnts complaining of noises in the ear, which arc 
jiroduced by mere (dianges of circulation in some part of 
I he auditory apparatus, in the entire absence of the appro- 
|>riale jihysical cause, the undulations of air. These noises 
;irc freipiently described by patients, saying that they re- 
semble the rolling of carriages ; the roarinc; of the wind ; 



* This emanation tVoiu the luminous body penetrates the eye, and falling upon 
the iclina. causes a change in the circulation of that pari, or, as some suppofee, 
m the action of the vessels of the chorid coal, which change is perceived by the 
retina, and it is this perception of change, which, being uiojificd by the struciure 
of the part, constitutes the sensation of lighi. 



12 lluiaiihls on ihr ('onneiiion 

the i-Lishiiig nl" ininlity waters, or the whizzing ol steam from 
the tea-kettle. We ol'ten liear jicojile complain of ilitigue, 
a sensation peculiar to the naiscles and experience it our- 
selves, when no exertion, the physical cause of that sensa- 
tion, has been made. 

We might go on autl uiulliply Jjroofs ; but it is presumed 
that enough have been adduced to convince every one, that 
when the identical sensation has been produced in the 
absence of its legitimate physical cause, and by anotiier 
altogether different in its physical properties, it must be 
ascribed to the fact that the structure of the organ, or part 
experiencing it, can so modify its actions, as to give the same 
result. If it be true, that sensation is modified by structure, 
then it will iollow that each structure should have a sensa- 
tion of its own, and that instead of five senses, we may have 
twenty or fifty.* As the brain, (by which term I mean to 



* Every structure or tissue in thf body has, it is believed, a sensation peculiar 
lo itself, wliicli especially relates to its function, and conservation. An ache, 
is the sensation peculiar to bone, and is produced by pressure. The bones are the 
levers of the organs to which the mechanical powers of the system are applied. 
Now pressure is the appropriate cause by which a lever or any other mechanical 
iiistrunu'iit effected is ordinarily put in motion : hence it was necessary that 
the boni'S should have a sensibility ami sensation, derived no donbt from their 
[leculiarity of structure, which should at all times inform us of the fact, that they 
were subjected to an undue degree of that kind of force either from its internal 
or external application ; internal when it arises from a morbid state of distention 
of the vessels of the bone, as when inflammation is going on in its structure ; 
or external, as any one at any time may satisfy himself by making pressure with 
the thumb upon the shin bone, or indeed any other bone in tlie body which is 
thinly covered. This ache is the sensation which, when exi)erienccd in a degree 
that compromises the safety of the part, prompts ns to seek relief ; hence its 
conservative utility. Fatigue is the sensation peculiar to the muscles, the organs 
of motion ; and is produced by an excessive exertion of their powers. Its final 
end is to admonish us of the necessity of suspending further efibrt. If we do 
not heed the timely admonition, the function, and perhaps indirectly the struc- 
ture ol ihese organs will be seriously deranged, injured, or even destroyed. So 
ol' all the other distinctive tissues of the body. It might be amusing and instruc- 
tive lo all, but it is emphalically interesting and important to the pliysician, to 
understand this subject ; for it enables liim to ascertain with considerable accu- 
racy the seat of disease, by attending to and analyzing the jiauis and feelings 
complained of by palienls. 



of Life, Mind and Matter. 1 3' 

include tlie euccphalon and spinal marrow and their appen- 
dages, the nerves) is composed of a great variety of differ- 
ent parts, each of which is, I suppose, capable of modifying 
in its own particular way, perception and reflection, the 
functions of the mind, it would seem to flow from our doc- 
trine as a corollary independent of the arguments of the 
phrenologists, that the brain is made up of a congeries of 
organs, every one of which has a mode of perception and 
reflection peculiar to itself. 

Wc shall proceed to show, that besides this modification 
of the properties and functions of vitality by structure, sen- 
sation and motion the two essential functions of life are 
also modified by physical causes, which may be divided 
into two species, viz : chemical and mechanical. It is abso- 
lutely necessary that these llinctiuns should be thus modi- 
fied, otherwise the same physical cause would not produce 
the same change : consequently, the same sensation or per- 
ception could not be expected invariably to iollow. It is 
owing to this power of physical causes to ni'idify sensation 
and perception, that aloes is always bittm- ; honey always 
sweet; vinegar always sour ; &c.. tS;c. The saine may be 
said of physical causes addressed to the otlier senses, as 
smelling, tasting, feeling, &c. Now, why is it so ? Tiie rea- 
son is, that it is an universal and immutable law di nature, 
that the physical properties essential to each particular 
kind of matter should always be the same. The same 
law holds good in regard to changes produced in the 
mind as well as in the body : and hence it is that objects ot 
the sarne physical properties, if they produce any change 
in the mind, always excite the sanie ideas, the same 
trains of thought, the same intellectual operations, and in- 
deed, the same emotions : therefore, a transparent body 
always excites in the mind the idea of transparency, and a 
disagreeable object always the emotion of disgust, because 
ihey always produce the same changes of action in the 
brain, the organ of mind. To this it may be objected that 
the same impressions, whether piiy>!'Ti| or mentni, alter a 
time, cease to prorluf-e the same eh;in;z''s, ;inil conr^equentlv 

B 



11 Thoughts on the Connection 

cease to excite the same sensations and perceptions. This, 
however, is owing to another law of the system, viz : that 
frequent repetition or constant application of the same 
causes destroys the susceptibility of the part to which they 
are applied, to their particular impression ; as the irrita- 
tion excited in the skin of a person not accusJomed to 
wearing flannel soon ceases to be perceived. It is ow- 
ing to the same law that the same dose of medicine re- 
peated daily, soon ceases to produce its appropriate effect, 
that the same quantity of alcoliol ceases to intoxicate. 
This law is universal, and therefore, its influence extends 
to the mind. For instance, the same object of distress 
presented daily, would soon cease to excite emotions of 
pity or compassion. The wisdom and goodness of God 
are very clearly manifested by the institution of this law of 
the system ; for by the frequent or constant application of 
hurtful agents to our bodies, they lose their susceptibility 
to those impressions ; and hence it is, that persons who 
have become acclimated, will be exempt from diseases of 
a particular region, while strangers moving into it are soon 
aflected.* In like manner the mind ceases to be annoyed 
by the frequent repetition or constant application of moral 
causes which are calculated to disturb its equanimity, be- 
cause that part of the brain, the organ of mind, upon which 
those causes have so constantly or repeatedly acted, has 
lost its susceptibility to their particular impression. Again, 
to carry the analogy a little farther, frequent change of 
action or derangement of function in an organ, is sooner or 
later followed by a change of structure in that part, and we 
have permanent disease, or what medical men term organic 
disease, which, if in an organ whose function, as that of the 
heart and lungs, is essential to life, is generally considered 



» It is owing to the prevalence of this law, that the tobacco chewer and the 
rum drinker are not epet'dily cut ofi'by the use of those poisone-, and it is owinp 
to the same cause, that a person by laking daily a quantity of arsenic, would 
come at length to take with impunity a dose which would destroy the life of 
r.nother who had not been habituated to its use. In this way, murdrr i" said 
i( hnv'.' been crmniitted without suspicion. 



of Life, Mind unJ MuKcr. 15 

incurable, because the change of function caused by th.:-; 
very change of btructure tendi lo give permanency to the 
morbid state of its organization. So in regard to the mind, 
which is the function of tiie brain, when any moral cause is 
frequently repeated or constantly applied, the very struc- 
ture of the brain becomes altered, and we have incurable 
madness or mania. 

Another law b)- which changes of action or function in 
the body are mndified is this : that when any pyrt has been 
deprived of its susceptibility tf) a particular stimulus or 
impression, it may be specially restored by merely chang- 
ing the physical cause; and it is on this principle that many 
diseases which are only functional arc cured. So in the 
mind, when it has lost its susceptibility to any moral cause, 
lor the same reason it may be restored by simply exchang- 
ing that for another ; and hence it is, that many are so much 
relieved, or even cured of insanity by a mere exchange of 
the moral causes which have deranged the intellect, for those 
which tend to restore its susceptibility, or for such as arc 
suited to reeew its healthy operations; and in this consists 
the grand secret of curing that most terrible of all maladies. 
Again, the functions of the body are modified by the quan- 
tity of arterial blood circulating in the particular part to 
which the altered function belongs. And here the analogy 
is drawn still closer; for the operations of the mind, like the 
functions of every other part of the body, are altei-ed or 
modified by the quantity of blood which lor the time being, 
is circulating in the brain, the organ of the mind. Jf the 
physician wishes to increase the I'unction of an organ, he iias 
only to contrive to throw a Httle more blood intii it. If it 
be an organ kI' secretion, as the liver oy lachrymal gl^uid, 
an increased (piantity of bile, or of tears \^'i!l be the result. 
If it be an organ of motion, increased mobility ivill follow. 
If it be the mentrd organ, an increased quantity of thought 
will be produced. Do you ask for proof. Take a glass or 
two of wine, a cup of tea or coffee, or a pill of opium, 
which induce the vessels of thf Lryin to relax, an 1 conse- 



16 Thoitghls on the Connection 

quently admit more arterial blood into that organ, and yon 
will have an increased quantity of function ; the intellectual 
wheels will move on with more power, as well as rapidity ; 
or if any one, in these days of te-totalism, should object to 
these expedients, for increasing the powers of the mind, or 
more properly speaking, the function of the brain, he may 
be told that its functions, like those of every other organ 
under the control of the will, may be increased within cer- 
tain lim.its by exerciso. To illustrate as well as to carry on 
the argument. The muscles are the organs of motion, and 
when we begin to put them in action, as in the morning on 
rising from the bed, or when we engage in any exercise 
requiring more than ordinary exertion, we find our first 
movements are comparatively feeble and inert ; bat as we 
go on exercising, they become more and more facile and 
agile, increasing in celerity and power ; and why ? because 
more blood is brought by exercise into the muscles. So 
when we begin to think on any subject, especially if it be 
one upon which we are not accustomed to meditate, the 
first operations of our minds are feeble, but by a continu- 
ance of the eftbrt they become stronger and stronger, be- 
cause by exercise, more blood is derived to the brain. All 
of us have, undoubtedly, noticed the paleness of an orator's 
face when he begins to address an audience, and have ob- 
served that his first efforts are feeble and labored : but as 
he goes on, color comes in his face, his eye kindles, and his 
whole countenance glows ; phenomena which indicate that 
more blood has by some means or other gained admission 
into the vessels of the head, and consequently into those of 
the brain ; his thoughts now com.e with rapidity, his intel- 
lectual operations proceed with power, his ideas follow 
each other in such rapid succession, that he cannot stop 
for words and cxpi-cssions to represent them, his mouth 
is a door of utterance, out of which language flows with the 
same facility and rapidity with which thoughts pass through 
his mind. If now the effort be much lonarer continued, the 
vessels of the head will become so distended with blood. 



■of Life. Mind taut Mullt-r. 17 

thnt they aro coiiijiellcJ to resist, and nfti/u painfully, and 
it is in this way we explain the tact that many persons 
experience headache after intense thinkini;, or a vigorous 
ellbrt at public speaking, just as pain is produced in the 
muscles, the organs of motion, hy long continued or si'vere 
exertion. 

Wo shall push this jiart of the inquiry no firthcr at this 
time, but [iroceed to show how the functions of the living 
body arc commenced and carried en ; how physical 
causes produce action and changes of action in the system; 
and endeavor to prove that their mode ot' producing action 
and changes of action in the mind, is exactly similar to that 
by which they produce action and changes of action in the 
body, and also that moral causes operate on the body 
■exactly like physical causes, and that in the production and 
change of action, they are governed by precisely the same 
laws, and consequently, that to educate the mind, it is ab- 
solutely necessary to educate the body. The tiuiction of 
every organ in the body is performed by a set of vessels 
called capillaries, from the fact of their being exceedingly 
fine, like the smallest hairs. They are to be cnnsidered as 
the principal antagonists of the heart, or as furnishing in 
every part of the body antagonistical resistance to the ac- 
tion of that organ. Their action is modified in each par- 
ticular organ by the substance which has been thrown 
around and among them, by wlsich they are connected 
together; a circumstance which gives peculiarity to their 
function, as well as identity to the organ. These working 
vessels, which do the business of the system, are in the first 
instance excited to action by physical causes, chemical or 
mechanical ; and we will here premise that the impressions 
which thry^ make are either agreeable or disagreeable, 
painful or pleasureable as the case may be. because upon 
this important fact is based a law- by which their influ- 
ence is greatly modified. We shall assume, as it will 
fully answer our purpose, that life commences at birth, 
and that the body is then completely formed and furnished 



IS Thoughts on the Connection 

with iill iis appropriate fluids. The air, as in the case of 
the first man, while in the very hands of his Creator, rusii- 
ing into tlie nostrils of tlie new-born infant, roaches and 
expands its lungs ; by which expansion all the pulmonary 
vessels are enlarged and elongated. Prior to the expansion 
of the lungs, their vessels, except such as were necessary 
to nutrition are supposed to be empty. According to a 
well known law of hydraulii-s, into these vessels, in 
which a sort of vacuum had been thus formed by the 
expansion before alluded to, the fluids would flow and dis- 
tend them, until by simple mechanical distention, they 
would be excited to resistance, and stimulated to contract ; 
which would force a portion of their contents out of them 
into other vessels. The mere weight of the atmosphere, 
which is about fifteen pounds to the square inch, would of 
itself put the delicate air-vessels of the lungs on the stretch, 
and stimulate them to contract strongly ; which, by forcing 
out a quantity of air, constitutes expiration. When this was 
accomplished, according to the law of the system, which is 
that every degree of contraction should be followed by a 
spontaneous relaxation, generally in proportion to the 
previous contraction, these vessels would relax, and again 
of course, be filled and distended, by the in-rushing of ano- 
ther portion of atmospheric air, which constitutes inspira- 
tion. What an organ as a whole does, will be done by all 
its vessels ; therefore, the contraction of the lungs in expi- 
ration, forces the blood out of their vessels into the heart, 
(a hollow muscle) and distends it ; as mechanical distention 
is the natural or physical stimulus which excites the mus- 
cles to act, it causes that organ to contract, and the blood 
is thrown into the arteries, and through them, into all parts 
of tlic system, where it stimulates every vessel and every 
part to e.ct ; for every organ will do what all its vessels 
do. Hence it is, that when the vessels of a muscle are dis- 
tended with red or arterial blood, they will be prompted to 
contract in order to tbrce it out, and what all tlio vessels 
of a muscle do, the same will the muscle as a whole do ; 



of Lifr, Mini! iirii! Mr/ltrr. I i) 

that is, if will cuntracl as a whole, and its iegitiinatc ef- 
fect as aa oiTi:an of motion will be manifested. Now the 
nerves, which give the vessels the power to feel the impros 
sion of the fluids, anii also enable thcni to act, or rather 
rc'-aet u|)on ilieir contents, take cognizance of their ac- 
tion or contraction, and so to speak, communicate the intel- 
ligence to tlio sensorium ; or to use another mode of ex- 
pression, they produce a change of action in that jiartof tho 
brain in which they (the nerves) originate, and there excite 
(he perception oi" this change, which constitutes thought. 
This change, and the consequent perception of it, is re])oalcd 
again and again, as often as the original cause is applied, 
until at length the brain or some portion of its vessels, gels 
a habit of acting in this particular way, and then the indi- 
vidual, by fixing his attention upon this perception, may 
excite at his pleasure the same change of action in his brain, 
and tlius reproduce the same perception, idea, or train of 
thoughts. Having learned from experience that he has ac- 
quired this power over the vessels of the brain, he comes at 
length to desire to have it, (the change) reproduced in the 
absence of its p'lysical cause: and by trying again and 
again, he acquires the power of reproducing it, and then he 
will have the idea of that which was the physical cause of 
the change, as well in its absence as in its presence. This 
constitutes voluntary thinking ; the only mode of thinking 
which strengthens the mind, or produces any valuable re- 
sults : the art of which it is the object and business of edu- 
cation to teach.* 



* When a physical or simsible object is present<>d lo any of liie senses : lo the 
eye for instance, the light reflected Iroin it enters the organ, and produces b 
change in the state of the retina, which is transmitted lo that part of the brain 
from which the optic m-rve arises, and there produces a change which is per- 
ceive! ininerfc-ctiy at first, it is admitted, especially in early infancy ; but when 
the same sensible object is presented again and again, the change each lime 
will be produced, perceived and compared with previous changes until the con- 
sciousness of its having been perceived beibre, is fuHy awakened ; when, almost 
sirnuitaneously with consciousness another faculty to wit, attention is originated, 
Nowaitentinn :e vohnt'^ry or invohin'.arv At Grot it is involuntary, but by 



20 Thoiiifhls un the Connection 

It renuiins to be shmvii, that the muscles calfed voluntary, 
become subject to volition or the vv'ill, in the same way as 
the power of the will over the action of the vessels of the 
brain is acquired, which has just been considered and attempt- 
ed to bo explained. The blood flowing into the muscles as 
soon fis their vessels are largo enough to admit it, excites 
them to act, and they do act involuntarily at first, before 
and lor a considerable time after birth. In this way, mus- 
cles arc first prompted and excited to act. The nerves, 
besides supplying them with the power to feel and to move, 
take cognizancf of the motion I'lus excited, and transmit a 
knowledge of it to that part of the brain, or spinal marrow 
in which they have their origin, and there produce a change 
in the actions of its capillary vessels which, in a longer or 
shorter time afterbirth, (perhaps before as some think.) and 
after frequent repetitions comes to be perceived ; and when 
it has been perceived again and again, the individual taking 
pleasure in the perception and consciousness of the change 
excited by the transmitted action of the muscle, desires, 
and at length determines to reproduce it, and by frequently 



repetition, emotion i3 produceil, which is soon iollo;veil hy desire, or lis opjio- 
site aversion. Consciousness and attention, constitute the understanding ; de- 
sire and the determination to which it gives rise, constitute the will. Con- 
sciousness and attention are attended with pleasure ; the pleasure of knowing, 
or of knowledge, which at first is passive, but which by repetition becomes 
active, and then follows the desire of reproducing thought, and soon that of acquir- 
ing new ideas. Thus, when an idea has been produced again and again by the 
presence of a physical object, we come at length to desire its recurrence in ilie 
absence of its archetype, the physical object, and by single or repeated trials, thr; 
individual acquires the power of producing the same change in ihe vessels of the 
brain, which was e.\cited by the physical agent when present, and then will thr 
identical idea or ideas be produced, and the same consciousness and allention 
will ensue ; the idenlity of which is settled by comparison with previous results. 
.\t first the reproduction, it is true, will be more or less difficult, and more or 
less perfect, until bye-and-bye, the individual acquires a perfect control over the 
action of the vessels concerned in the process, and then the result is obtained 
with the greatest lacility. It is in this way, that we acquire the power and the 
habit of voluntary thinking, as any one may convince himself who will take the 
trouble of patiently watching the operations of his own mind, especially when 
• ndea^-oring !o master a new orditlicull subjccl. 



of Life, Mind and Matter. 21 

repeating the efTorf, acquires the power to reproduce it, 
(i. ('. the change in the brain, or spinal marrow,) and then 
ihe muscle moves in obedience to his will, and then, and not 
til! then, does it become a voluntary muscle. Let any one 
observe how the child learns to walk; or how he himself 
must proceed when he would perform any motions which 
are entirely new to him. In the performance of such, do 
his muscles at first move with precision in obedience to his 
will ? Or has he to train and educate them just in the same 
way as he did when a child ? It is in this manner that all 
our voluntary powers, whether of mind or muscle, of 
tiiought or action, are acquired, and in fact strengthened. 
By thus acquiring the power of changing the actions of 
the vessels of the brain, and making them subservient to 
our will, we can learn to think on anything we please, or 
Continue a train of voluntary thinking on any particular 
subject. When these vessels have been obliged by the 
will to act for a considerable time in any particular man- 
ner, they become fatigued like the vessels in the voluntary 
muscles, and sooner or later, we are tired of thinking on 
this or that particular subject, and if we do not now stop 
or turn the current of thought into another channel, or 
to another subject, the effort will become painful. So in 
the muscles, when we have fatigue irom any particular 
kind (if action, we must either stop, or change it for some 
other effort in order to be relieved from that sensation. 
Voluntary thinking, like voluntary action, causes fatigue, 
and these are the only modes of action that do cause it. 
From the view of the subject just taken, and the reasoning 
thereon, we learn that God has not endowed man with 
vohiiitary ]iovvers, and consequently, has not made him a 
moral agent ; but it is true, that he has so constructed and 
cimstiluted him, that he becomes such bv his own choice and 
elliirts, (in the manner already shown.) and therefore it is 
right and proper, that he should be held responsible for all 
his voluntary acts. But the question, how do physical 
•ciuiscs (iperale on the capillaries of an organ to make them 
c 



22 Tliouglits on Lif(\ Mind and Malter. 

act at all, or to cliaiigc their action still remains to be 
answered. We have said, that the impressions which they 
make are agreeable or disagreeable, pleasurable or painful, 
and that upon this fact, was founded an important law, by 
which actions of the body were regulated. The law is this; 
anything that makes a pleasing impression on the body, in- 
duces the vessels of the part, on which it is made, to relax, 
and whatever makes a disagreeable or painful impression 
on it, induces its vessels to contract, or in other words, to 
resist.* The latter part of this law is, however, modified 
by another circumstance, which is this : if the iuYprcssion be 
made on the outside of the vessel, or exterior to an organ, 
and be stronger than that made on the inside by the fluids 
within, it will produce relaxation, upon the principle pointed 
out by Hypocratcs, that the stronger effaces the weaker 
impression. If the impression, exterior to an organ, be 
.stronger than that within, its vessels will relax, and continue 
to do so. until they become distended and over distended, 
and come at last to resist painfully, and then we are assured 
that the internal is stronger than the external impression. 
We do not, however, resist corporeally or mentally, what- 
ever is pleasing to us ; and iheretbre, it is, that the first part 
of the law which causes the vess-els to relax in consequence 
of [jleasui'abK' impressions, holds equally wdi^ther they be 
made internally or externally. Notwithstanding, if it Ix; 
external, it o[)cratcs on the same principle, as if it had been 
disagreeable or painful, because if the external pleasurable 
imnression be stronger than that which is made by the fluids 
within the vessels, they \\\\\ relax or forego their resistance, 
and allow themselves to be distended. We wish to have 
it kept in view, that in this way we explain the influence of 
causes which produce changes in the mind, by operating 
ui)on the vessels of the brain, the organ of the mind. There 



* So far as llie niiihor rcnolierts, tliis mipnitanl doctrine \va=; fir.-t rnnaclied ao't 
pr"n\iilgaled by ihe celebrated EmjIisIi orator, Kdiiimul BurI.e, in 111:? work on 
the Sublime ntid Beavttifvil. 



Tlif Posiioiis. 23 

4<; ill this respect, no ilitlerence hotwccn tln' lijriiintioii nl 
ideas by the brain, and tiie secretion or ibimation of bile by 
(he hver. The general principle is the same. I'olh ai'c 
(he functions of their respective organs, but with this ditler- 
ence, that the peculiar organization of the brain, constrains 
it not only to form ideas^ but, so to speak, to know what it 
is doing, or to be conscious what ideas it is furming. what 
trains of thought it is carrying on, and to what conclusions 
it has arrived ; while the liver, from its own peculiarity of 
structure, is compelled to make bile if it do anything at 
all ; but is not allowed to know what it is about ; and there- 
fore, it can never be educated ; but the brain is the organ 
toward which all our eflbrts at training should be directed, 
and hence, the importance of being well acquainted with 
the mode in which changes of action in it, are effected, and 
the laws by which they are regulated and governed. 

If we would get a new idea, we must try to make the 
vessels of tiie brain undertake the precise action necessary 
to its production or formation, just as we would try to make 
certain muscles perform a certain action entirely new; and 
we all know that this is done by repeated efforts; and 
exactly in the same way the formation of a new idea is to 
be accomplished. If ive would ge-L an idea into III" Jirad of 
^iiwthcr. we must try to make the vessels uf his lirain act just 
as the vessels of our brains acted or do act when that idea 
was or is present in our minds. And as we can perform 
any set or series of motions with a facility proportioned to 
the frc^quency with which wo have performed them, so we 
cau carry on with ease any trains of thought in proportion 
io the number of times we have obliged them to pass 
through the mind, and thus we get habits of thinking just as 
we do habits of acting. 

THE PASSIONS. 

We shall now pniceed to consider a class of feelings or 
emotions which have been considered as exclusively mental, 
and therefore more particularly njipropriate to the design 



'24 'The I'ussions. 

we havn in view. Those mental feelings are excited lay 
external causes, and are involuntary. They are termed pas- 
sions, and have been generally, but 1 think very erroneously, 
considered distinct from intellectual operations. The rea- 
sons for this opinion are not strictly called for, and therefore 
will not be assigned. Theordinary movements of the vessels 
of the brain are, like those of every other organ, owing 
to the influence of impressions unconsciously made on their 
internal surfaces, constantly and uniformly prompting them 
to act, and consequcntlv during our waking hours to keep 
up a train of thought, which is continually passing through 
the mind, without our knowing why or wherefore, as in the 
case of some people who are said to whistle for want of 
thought. 

This kind of thinking arises from the automatic movements 
of the vessels of the brain, and has little more efTect in aug- 
menting the knowledge of the individual who practices or in- 
dulges in it, than the automatic movements of the vessels of 
the liver, or the lungs. It is voluntary thinking only, which, 
like voluntary action, produces important results. This regu- 
larity of action in the vessels of the brain is, however, liable 
to be disturbed by impressions from without, more power- 
ful than those made by the fluids within the vessels, and 
change of action in the vessels of the organ of mind will 
produce change of feeling in the mind itself, and this change 
of feeling may react and produce changes of action in the 
brain, which, with their results, (i. e. actions in other parts,) 
constitute the influences of the passions on the body, and 
are not unfrequently the cause of serious disease ; but they 
act in the production of disease, and in all other respects on 
the same principle as physical causes. The passions, like 
physical causes, may be divided into two classes, painful or 
pleasurable, according to the kind of feeling which they 
produce, or with which they are accompanied or attended. 
The passions belonging to the first class, are grief, fear, and 
anger. Those belonging to the second, are joy, hope, and 
love ; all the other passions may be considered as mere 



(Iriir. •.'.-) 

mixtures or inncliliiMtiinis of lliosc s,\. Prrli:i|is \vi- imi'lil 
simplitV them still more, and say that ihere wrvr \\\n i>iil\. 
grief and joy. 

CKIEF. 

Loss or damage is tlie physieal cause which ilistm-hs the 
circulation ot" the l)rain, and gives rise to that piiinrul ciiin- 
tion of tiie mind, which is termed grief. ^Vhy i\in% iliis 
sense of privation alter the circulation of that organ, and in 
what does this alteration consist? It consists in :in in- 
creased quantity of blood in the brain, or in some poilioii 
of it; tlie phrenologist would say, in the organ o|' :ic- 
quisitivencss. That there is an increased detei-mination oj 
blood to the head, is obvious from the redness ot' the fac(> 
and eyes, and from the sense of fullness in the head, so 
often noticed and complained of by persons affected with 
grief, and in some instances, apoplexy is produced by lliis 
passion. How does grief operate in the ])roduetion ol' this 
increased fullness of the vessels of the brain? One of two 
things must take place, either the action of the heart must 
be increased, or the vessels of the brain must relax ; and it 
is obvious from all the phenomena of grief, that the loruiei- 
does not occur, for, the pulse of a person laboring under the 
influence of this passion is slow, the heart not unfre(|uenll\- 
seems to pause in its action, and every sixth or eighth heat 
is lost, and the afflicted person is insensible to everything 
about him, and even neglects the calls of nature ; foiid ;uiil 
drink are either refused or not thought of, and tln' voie(^ of 
friendship ?nd sympathy falls unheeded ujiori his eni-. 
Nothing interests him. As the inereasetl action of the 
heart can not be called in tii explain the increased fnlliiess 
of the vessels of the brain, we must turn to the fifhei- cause. 
viz: a relaxation of the vessels of that organ : and the ipiej:- 
tion, how is this relaxation produced, again recurs. We 
have said, that an impression made exterior to an organ 
which is stronger than that made by the Ihiids on the ves- 
sels of the part, will cause those vessels to relax, and Ik^- 



coini^ (lis'iciidcil. uirI pc-rhaps overdistriided, upon the priu- 
riplc hiid down In' llyiXKTEiti'S, that tlie stronger effaces 
ihe WL-;ikcr iiii|iresb!ioii. \ow, the cause of this passion is 
the loss, or jn'ivatioa of an object that is exterior to us ; is 
disagreeable or painful, and is stronger than that made by 
the fluids within the vessels of the brain : and hence, those 
vessels relax or forego their resistance, and suffer them- 
selves to be distended ; and if the cause of grief be very 
great or sudden, death may be the consequence, as happen- 
ed in the case of Eli, the judge of Israel, who, vvhen he 
heard of the death of his two sons, Hophni and Phineas, and 
of the capture of the Ark of the "Loi'd, fell down and died. 
With such results, most oi' us are familiar, either from re- 
port or our own observation. It is like a blow on the head, 
which stupifics or causes death, by causing the rupture of a 
vessel of the brain, or by inducing inflammation of that 
organ. An increased determination of blood to an organ, 
we have said, increases its function, if it be within certain 
limits, l)Ut if it be excessive, so as to overdistend its vessels, 
and cause tiiern to resist inordinately, then it interrupts or 
destroys the function of the organ in question, and this is 
precisely the case in sudden or violent grief. The vessels. 
taken by surprise, forego their resistance, and become so 
overdistended, that they cannot perform, their regular and 
appropriate function, which, in the brain, cannot be long 
suspended without fatal consequences. Hence, it is proper 
when we have intelligence to connnunicate, which is calcu- 
lated to produce sudden and violent grief, to jirepare the 
mind of the person to whom the communication is to be 
made by such information as will gradually lead him to 'nfer 
the result. Nature's method of preventing the disastrous 
consequences of grief, by unloading the distended vessels of 
the head, is in perfect keeping with the regularity and uni- 
formity of all her laws, and is moreover, a striking illustra- 
tion of the one alluded to; that the function of an organ is 
increased liy increasing the quantity of arterial blood in its 
vessels. In trrief we have said, that there is an increased 



Fear. Ti 

ffrlrniiiiiation nflilnud to tlio lie;ul : in wliicii case, llic face, 
lyps, ;ind larhryni:il .'glands, all particijiatr. and it' the I'lisli 
he not too violent, an ine'vcased ijuantity i_)l' tears is secreted. 
Hence it is, that weeping always hrings relief, and in pari, 
secures tiic patient from all danger by unloading the vesseW 
of the brain of so n>iich of iheir conlcnis. as will seciu'c the 
integrity of the organ, and consequently, the continuance oS 
its function. Weeping is, therefore, to he .dvvays greeted 
as the bow of safety, indicating that the storm of griel' 
which thri'atened destruction, is passing away, hi vevy 
sudde)! and very violent griel, we nuist " wi'cp or die." 

FEAIi. 

The next of the painful passions is I'ear, which operates 
upon another and opposite^ principle. Instead of producing 
a relaxation of the vessels of th<' brain, it causes an increas- 
ed contraction, not only in the vessels of that organ, but in 
those of other organs under its control or inlluencc. Hence, 
color llies i'rom the face of him that is atlVighted, and a uni- 
versal tremor, arising ^t'rom the violent contractions of 
the muscles of voluntary motion, seizes him ; and further 
more, when the emotion is extreme, this universal contrac- 
tion fixes the victim immoveably to the spot on which he 
stands, as well as deprives him of his senses. The ancient 
poets understood this. Homer, speaking of Dohni, who was 
surprised while on his way to the Grecian camp hy LHysses 
and Diomede, says : 

'■ Against the troiiihling wont/, 



The wretch stood prop'd, ami quivered as he stood, 

A sudcien palsy seized his tiirnitig head, 

[lis loose teeth ehatlered. and his color fled.'' 

This ])assion is canseil by any oh|cct which excites in u.* 
tlie apprehension of jierson.al danger. Jts iuipression is 
[lainful, and it refers alone to ourselves, and by tiu-ning our 
(lioughts inward, and iiximj them upon ourselves, it has 



2R The Passions. 

|ircci.srl)' llu- fffect ol' a disagreeable Jinpression made on 
ilie inside ol' vessels, and should therefore, upon the princi- 
ple which has been laid down, produce contraction, and it is 
<iu this princiijle that we explain its phenomena.* We have 
said, that tear contracts the muscles, and fixes its subject 
like Dolon, to the spot on which he stands. Now, to this, 
it might be objected, that the aflrighted are apt to run away, 
and sometimes actually do: poetically speaking, " fear adds 
wings to their flight." This, however, is a mistake. Fear 
prom])ts no one to fly, but rather deprives him of the power 
of flight. f The reason why an aflrighted person runs away 



* Thi? passion may act medicinally in cases in which ihe vessels areoverdis- 
lenJed, as in inflammation, &c., and there are not wanting in the records of the 
profession examples of its efficacy, as a remedial agent. A gentleman afflicted 
with gout, often cursed his foot and wished it at the devil. In one of these par- 
oxysms ot rage, a terrible agitation and commotion occurred in the chimney 
which began at the top and descended with irightful rapidity to the tire-place in 
the gentleman's room, which was instantly filled with soot and dust, in the midst 
of which up rose an imp of diminutive size, who made the astounding announce- 
ment that his master was coming and would soon be there. The gentleman 
mistaking him for a little devil, (who was in fact only a chimney sweep's boy* 
that had been sent to explore the chimney and give information of the speedy 
iiilvent of his master, but who making a false step in the discharge of his mission 
had fallen from the top to the bottom of the flue,) and concluding that the old 
ilcvil himself hail taken him at his word, rose and fled. The gout, we are 
informed, left the gentleman quite as unceremoniously as he had lelt the room- 

t " Gcoigc Grochanzy, a Polander, who had enlisted as a soldier in the service 
lA the King of Prussia, deserted. A small party was sent in pursuit of him, and 
\Uu-n he least expected it, they surprised him singing and dancing among a 
(■(inipany of peasants, who were together in an inn, and were making merry. 
This eveiil, so sudden and unforeseen, and at the same time so dreadful in its 
consoqueiices, struck him in such a manner, that giving a great cry, he became 
altogether stupid and insensible, and was seized without the least resietance. 
They carried him to Glaucau, where he was brought before a council of war and 
received sentence as a deserter. He sufi'ered himself to be led and disposed o* 
at the will of those about him, without uttering a word, or giving the least sign 
that he knew what had happened, or would happen to him. During all the time 
ilinl he was in custody, he neither eat, nor drank, nor slept, nor had any evacu- 
tioii. Some of his comrades were sent to see him ; after that he was visited 
by some ofHcers of his corjw , then by some priests ; but still continued in the 
same state, without discovering the least signs of sensibility. Promises, entrea- 



Fear. 29 

from the cause of danger, is not owing to fear, which, as we 
hive shown, would rivet him totliespot; but to hope, which 
nituraiiy prompts to action.* This it will bo seen is in perfect 
accordance with one of the physiological principles which 
have been laid down; viz : that violent contraction will be 
followed by a spontaneous relaxation which is generally in 



tiw and ihreateningg were cqu'illy iiiefffcliial. The physicians who were con- 
sulted upon his ca9?» were of opinion th:it he wag in a state of hopeless idiocy. 
It was first suspected thit ih:)3! appearances were fi-igned ; but these suspicions 
necessarily gave way, when it was known that he took no sustenance, and ihat 
th? invoiunta'y faictions of nature were in a gr-'at measure suspended. After 
some time, they knocked off his fetters and left him at liberty to go whither he 
would He received his hberiy with the same insensibility that he had showed 
upon other ojjasions. Hi remained fixed and immovable. His eyes turned 
wildly here and there, without taking cogiizance of any object, and the muscle? 
of his face w.-re (alien and fi.wd Uko those of a dead body. Being left to him- 
bclf, he passe I twenty djys in ths cti lition, without eating, drinking or havinj^ 
any evacuation, and died on the 23ih day. He had been sometin>es heard If- 
fete!) deep s'glis ; and one-' he ruslied with great violence on a soldier, who had 
a m'i| of liqi ir in his hand and f u-ced it from him, and having drank off the 
liqnjr vvi:h great eagerness, let the mug drop to the ground." The foregoing fur- 
nis'iHS one of the most remarkable cases of genuine fear and its consequences on 
record. In this ease of thj PolanJer, no rela.tation followed the previous cou- 
t;a:::o:i of th,> capillaries, co.-,s?quein!y no hope sprang up in his bosom. 

* The following cas3 in exemplification of the doctrine of the te.tt may be 
somcv.ha: cnnising: 

" Cirirles Gnstavus, King ofSweerlenj was besieging Prague, when a tmor of 
most e.xtraordinary vi5ig.", desire 1 adnittaice to his tent, and being allowed en- 
traice, offsreJ by way of amusement to the Kmg to devour a whole hog of one 
hundred weight in his presence The old General Koningsinarc, who stood by 
ths K!n,='s side, and who, soldier as ho was, had not got rid of the prejudices of 
liisohilJiiood, hinted to his royal master that ths p.-asant ought to be burnt as a 
sorcerer. "3ire,"s.ild the fallow, irrilated at th3 remark, " if your majesty will 
bill make tliat old fientieman lake off his sword and spurs, 1 will cat him im- 
m-idiately, be.ljre I begin the hog." General Koningsmarc (who at the head 
of a body of S.vedcs, had jus; performed wonders against the Austrians, and who 
v,'a^ looked upon as ons of the bravest men of the age,) conld not stand this pro- 
pooal, ospeciaily as i: was accompanied by a most hideous expansion of the fright- 
ful peasant's jaws. \V.ihoatutii.ringa word, the veteran general turned suddenly 
round, ran oat of the court, and thought himself not safe until he had atrivcd jr 
IiIg rjii>j-;ers, vvherc hs .'cmained twenty-four hours, locked up socurely, bflbie 
he hi J r;'/! I'aliy .'■id of t/.!; patiic wh'ch hid i-i 5''vtre!y afTjOrJ hini " 

D 



30 The Passions. 

proportion to the previous contraction. Now when the ves- 
sels, which contracted under the influence of fear, begin to 
relax, hope springs up in the mind of the sufferer, and his 
effjrls to escape will bo in proportion to his previous appre- 
hension of danger. Without this spontaneous relaxation 
of vessels, no ray of hope could come : unyielding and 
unutterable despair would have entire possession : the func- 
tions of lite would cense, and the person would die : he 
would be literally " scared to death." To carry out the 
analogy : it is not necessary that the physical cause of fear 
should be present, or actually exist. The emotion, as in the 
instances already adduced, of sensations produced in the 
absence of their appropriate physical causes, by the mere 
action of the vessels of the part experiencing them, may be 
produced by the simple apprehension of dangei% when there 
is no real cause for it, as is the case with persons who " bor- 
row trouble," or are frightened at " ciiimeras dire," ghosts 
and hobgoblins. A ludicrous exemplification of this truth, 
many will recollect, is given in the narrative of the life and 
adventures of Don Quixottc. 

JOY. 

This passion is tiie converse of grief in every respect, 
whether physically or morally considered. Joj' is a pleas- 
urable ; gricii a painful emotion. Joy brightens the eye, 
prompts to activity, and renders mind and body more in- 
t'jnsjly alive to every impression, and causes every function 
of both to be peformed with alacrity and delight : Grief 
bedims the eye, diffuses a torpor and listlessness over body 
and mind, rendering both indifferent to external impressions 
o.nd passing events, indisposing to motion and causing every 
lunclicn, corporeal and mental, to languish. 

Vv'e have stated that mental impressions operate on the 
brain just as physical impressions do on the organs of sense ; 
the pleasurable, producing relaxation, and those that are 
painful, contraction of the vessels of the part subject to 
thi"ir irfli'f ne(^ ; f.r.d it is r; f-ct tli:-t (Uh'^r ca-s^ans are brought 



Joy. iJ 1 

by syiiipalhy into tlio sauic couduion. In i^i'ici, ihc oau.:!t; 
heing painful and external, the alteiitk'ii is abstrarled troni 
everything within and personal, and is fixed u[)on that cause : 
hence the vessels of the brain forego their resistance, yield, 
are overdistended, and, as has been laid down as an axiom 
in physiology, that the function of an organ is invariably 
disturbed, suspended or destroyed when its vessoly are preter- 
naturally and inordinately distended, so wo lind the function 
of the brain is suspended from t!i;it cause, ;;nd therefore it 
does not transmit the requisite and wonted degree of ner- 
vous power to the other organs of the body, and on th;s 
account their vessels do not feel the inipuh'c of the fluids 
within, and of course do not resist, but sufier tiicinselvcs to 
be too much distended for the due performance of their 
appropriate fnnctit)ns; in grief tli!' vessels ol t!ie heart, the 
lungs, the stomach, the muscles, the organs of locomotion 
and also those of the organs of secretion, sympathising with 
those of the brain, become overdistended : iience, t!ie slow, 
sKiggish or intermitting pulse ; the interrupted breathing, 
with frequent sighing ; the loss of appetite and digestion ; 
the indisposedness to action, as well as the suspension of the 
ordinary secretions. In joy, the very reverse of this takes 
place. Under the influence of this passion the vessels of 
the heart, the lungs and the muscles, sympathizing with 
those of the brain, relax; hence, the l)ounding pulse, the 
heaving bosom, the nimble foot, and the " leaping for joy." 
Joy, like grief or fear, when excessive, may produce the 
most deleterious cflt;cts, as in the case of Dingoras, who 
died from excess of joy, on the crowning of his three sons 
as victors at-the Olympic games. Joy, wiicn inurJinate, is 
in fact, more dangerous than any of the depressing passions, 
on account of the increased energy with which the heart 
acts ; which, by forcing an undue quantity of blood inio the 
relaxed and yielding vessels of the brain, causes tlieni to bo 
so distended or overdistended, as to produce inliammation 
in its substance or membranes, or a suspension, lempoi-ary 
or permanent, of its lunetioiis. 



Ssi The Passions. 



ANGKE. 



Anger, of all the passions, is the most displeasing. Its 
cause is external, and always painful ; and, therefore, in- 
duces relaxation of the vessels of the brain, and consequent- 
ly, the admission of a greater quantity cf arterial blood into 
that organ, which, as has been said, always increases the 
function of an organ, pi-ovided it be moderate, but if im- 
moderate or inordinate, it will suspend or annihilate its 
function. In anger, the vessels cf the brain i-elax, and re- 
ceive more red blood:* hence, the powers of the mind are 
increased. The vessels of the heart and of the muscles, the 
organs of locomotion, sympathizing with those of the brain, 
also relax, and more red blood is admitted into them ; hence, 
the increase of their activity, besides an increased amount 
of nervous energy, (the production of which, like that of 
thought, is also a function of the brain,) is transmitted 
through the nerves to the heart, and other muscles. Under 
the influence of this passion, if moderate, all the powers and 
faculties of the mind and body are augmented; if immoder- 
ate, they may be. and sometimes are, suspended or destroy- 
ed. .John Hunter, one of the brightest ornaments of the 
medical profession, is said to have died almost instanta- 
neously, from a sadden gust of anger.t 



* Red blood is that which tirculatoE in the nrtevics ; black blood that which 
circulates in the veins. Red und arterial, applied to blood, arc Eynu.Tymous, as 
«re also black and \ er.nus. 

t Although this passion may be productive of fatal effects, yet it may be, and 
■often is employed either by accident or design, as a powerful remedial agent, of 
which I have known many instances. A woman in New Hampshire, who was 
cxceedinwly troubled for breath, said to her husband, in her anguish, " Oh I I 
must die ; I can not breathe any longer!" " Never mind, my dear," was his 
coDSolinE reply, " you need not breathe ; nobody wai'ts you to breathe any lon- 
ger!" It is hardly neccEsary to add that the lady made a most rapid :ecove.-y 
«nd Il\f:d manv years to be the companion of her tender spoufs. 



Hope — Love. aa 

nor;:. 

Hope is a pleasing passion, and, as we have se.cn, very 
generally springs as a matter of n?cos?'.ty from the ccss-ition 
of fear, and p?rlixps it always aris:s in this way, for wc 
first think of wliat miy bo b;'n2fijial to us; th-in wo desire 
to possess it ; thon we set about the motb.od of aequ!rin;;| it, 
■whereupon, the obstacles to its attainment presenting them- 
selves, and being disagreeable, produce contraction of the 
vessels of some portion of the brain, and fear is tiie result. 
Jf this contraction be followed by a spontaneous relaxation, 
or obviated by a discovery, that the obstacles may be re- 
removed or surmounted, hope springs up, and all our ener- 
gies are exerted to procure the desired object. Hope in- 
creases all the powers and faculties of the mind as well as 
the functions of the body, and is never dangerous, either in 
its direct or indirect consequences ; it is, therefore, as " an 
anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast." 



l<ove is a pleasurable passion, and will consequently pro- 
duce a relaxation of the vessels of the brain, whether it is 
excited by an internal cause, as an overweaning self-conceit, 
or by an external object. It is, howevor, very apt to have 
some other passion associated with, or engrafted upon it, 
which greatly modifies its effects on the mind, and also on 
the system generally. When obstacles present themselves, 
which appear to be too formidable to be overcome or re- 
moved, the apprehension of loa'ng thj object beloved, ex- 
cites fear, and we have the sighing, despind.ng lover. If 
a rival presents himself, angor is roused, and we have 
jealousy ; if hope, then we have the ecs'asy, the very p^otry 
of love. All the other passions seem to bo mere midifiea- 
tions of the foregoing, and tiieir inujincis on tljo mind or 
body might be easily described, by successively analyzing 
them, together with their complications. 



3-1 Thf I'aisioJin. 

GOVERNMENT 01-' Till: PA^'SIO.VS. 

In all educational movements, the passions present some 
very important considerations, which divide themselves into 
two classes. 1st. Those which regard the government and 
control of the passions themselves ; and 2ndly, those which 
ntgard the use which is to be made of them in strengthening 
the mind, and rendering its operations more vigorous and 
efficient in the attainment and application of knowledge. 

First : the control and government of the passions. It is 
admitted by all, that the passions are involuntary ; how then 
shall they be controlled or governed ? How shall a man 
become the master of his own spirit ? The rule is very 
short, comprehensive and infallible. If the passions be in- 
voluntary, their external signs notwithstanding, are ever 
subject to the will. Let these be withheld, and the emo- 
tion either ceases, or readily submits to the regulations of 
reason : or what is still more efficacious, let the individual 
under the influence of any passion determine to manifest the 
external signs of its opposite, or antagonistic emotion.* 
For instance, let him that is angry, expand his brows, and 
compel his featui-es to assume the external signs of pleasure, 
or of laughter, and the tiger instantly retires to his kennel, 
and the probability is that the subject ol the experiment 
will soon find himself in the laughing mood, — at least the 
propensity to strike will have ceased. To reverse the po- 
sition, let him that is pleased, or disposed to laugh, knit his 
brows, and assume the expression, attitude and gestures of 
wrath, and t!ie propensity to smile will soon subside. If 
ever so well pleased, let •■ the monarch frown, and from his 
eyeballs flash the living fire ;" — soon he will be in no very 
"melting mood." The pupil must be instructed when he feels 
the first kindlings of anger, to expand the brows, be silent 



* A friend has referred me to Seneca's morals for some foots, in relation to 
this subject ; but I have not been able to lay my hand on that book, and as it is 
some fifty years since I read it, I cannot say whether the above su^grslio.i!" 
U^vp been derived from it or not. 



i'.ie (if Ihc }\i.sxLoiis. ;<."> 

or Use soft words and gentle motions, and he uill easilx- 
quell or control the rising storm, as reason shall deem best. 
When it is desiraiilc to control or regulate any other p:is- 
sion, the same rule should be ibllovved. 

The second consideration. What uses shall he made of 
the passions in strengthenintx the mind and n ndering its op- 
erations more vigorous and cliicient in the attainment and 
use of knowledge ? The axiom in jihysiology. that an in- 
creased determination of blood to an organ, if moderate or 
within certain limits, increases its function, will greatly as- 
sist us in arriving at just conclusions upon this part of our 
subject. Now the production of thought and nervous en- 
ergy is the function of the brain, how then is its function to 
be increased ? The answer is, by rendering its circulation 
of blood more active. What passions then shall be called 
in to aid us in the production of this eflect ' Xot grief, 
certainly, for although it causes a relaxation of the vessels 
nf the brain, and consequently an increased determination 
of blood to that organ ; yet by fixing the attention exclu- 
sively upon the object of bereavement, it causes the suflerer 
to disregard all other matters, and therefore produces torpor 
and inactivity of body and mind, causing the functions of 
both to languish, it is therefore unfavorable to the imjirove- 
mcnt of either. Neither shall we invoke the passion of 
fear, lor that, as we have seen, produces contraction not 
only of the vessels of the brain, but of all other organs un- 
der its immediate control, and thereby paralyzing every 
cfToi-t. 

Tlian fear, no other passion, if we except grief, is so 
hostile to mental improvement. Here the subject of corpo- 
real punishment as a mean promotive of educational pur- 
poses, is forced upon our consideration. It has been, and 
is pjerhaps even now, a jiretty generally received opinion 
that tiie rod or the ferrule is an imjwrtaut if not an essential 
;;gcnt in the education of youtii ; it has, however, been, 
particularly of late, objected to by many as debasing the 
mind l>y nringing it undrr the :r.dnfi:cf' nf ,■! slavir-h fear. 



36 The Passions. 

and in this point of view it is, we conceive, idtogether ob- 
jectionable upon the principles laid down in this treatise. 
That the rod in ihc hand of a judicious teacher has some- 
times answered a valuable purpose, we are ready to admit ; 
but the true principle of its agency has we believe been 
entirely overlooked — that it has often sdmulated many 
an idle boy to get his lesson, who would have utterly neg- 
lected it, is not to be denied, but upon our principles it is 
not the fear or dread of the instrument, but the hope of es- 
caping its torture, which has prompted the idler to exertion 
and study. Feor stupifias and paralyzes : Hope exhilerates 
and exo.tes to action. 

Ail infliction oCcoi-poreal punishment, except for laults of 
a crimin:il nnture, such as lying. &,c , should be banished 
from our schools; because it is in the power of every teach- 
er who is duly qnulifi.cl to excite hopes of a higher and no- 
bler de.-criplion. ilian that uh.ch only looks to an immunity 
from bodily pa n.* JN'otWithstandnig, we believe that it con- 
sists Willi the duty of the instructor very often to place be- 
fore the mind ot the pupj.tlie inconveniences and disadvan- 
tages which incvitab! y result from ignorance, as well as the 
. boneiits whicfi spr,ng from knjwledj;e, for the purpose of 
• arousing in him tlia hopo of avoid. ng the fjrmsr, or of ob- 
taining the latter by a diligent application to study. Anger, 
as it has been shown, inci'eases the activity of the mind as 



• Upon this point, the writer speaks from considerable esperience, having 
laii^h' a number of ditil-ri'nt school?, aiirl some reputed to be very unruly and 
disiirderly during eight or ten wmlers in succession without inflicting corporeal 
punishment upon a single scholar. By treating the elder and more advanced 
pnpils with a sort oi conipmionable civility and politeness, and the younger with 
paternal kindness and gentleness, and avowing the determination to turn any 
one out cf school, who thould refuse, after Euilable admonition and rebuke, to 
comply with certain rules and regulations, which were always written and rend 
once or twice a week, he frund no difficuliy in leducing even very lurbulent 
eciioolsto a regularity, bordering upon that of military discipline. " Children ars 
men and women in miniature," and if treated assuchat school, end in the fam- 
ily circle, will, when fully grown, have a higher sense of their own rtsponsibtli- 
t;*s, n;iJ a ;:i Mcr b'urin:: tov.ards their f Huw creatur.s. 



Use of tlw Passions. 37 

well as body, but on account of its immoral tendencies, it 
should never be employed in the education of youth. Al- 
though we may " be angry and sin not," yet the motives to 
action suggested by this passion are never magnanimous. 
Anger, by circumscribing and concentrating the energies 
of the mind upon a single object, neither enlarges the under- 
standing, nor prompts to deeds of glorious memory. Was 
it the wrath of Xantippc, or tiu; patient endurance and un- 
Oinching fortitude of Socrates, her husband, ujwn whose de- 
voted head siie once " rained an horrible tempest,'' that 
caused her name to be handed down to posterity through a 
lapse of more than two thousand years >. 

Love, when conjoined to hope, increases the powers of 
the mind ; but it is the lOve of knowledge, and not of beauty, 
an affection for himself, and not for woman, which the 
teacher should endeavor to excite in the mind of the pupil, 
for the learner always makes most proficiency when 
fond of his instructor, and ardently in love with the 
science to be learned; because we are so constituted that 
we find no difficulty in fixing our thoughts upon that about 
which we love to think, or exerting ourselves to do that 
which is pleasing to the being whom we love. In regard 
to competition, emulation, rivalry, praise, profit or reward, 
we shall only observe with Sir Roger DeCoverly, that much 
may be said on both sides. 

ACTIVITY, AND SIZE Or ORGANS. 

Phrenologists tell us that the power of an organ depends 
upon its activity and size; and if their doctrine that the brain 
is a congeries of organs, giving rise to certain faculties or 
manifestations of mind, be true, it then behooves us to search 
out the circumstances by which activity and size may be 
increased. It is a well known fact that exercise causes a 
greater degree of dcvelopement of tiic part exercised ; in 
proof of which the arm of the blacksmith is often and fa- 
miliarly alluded to ; and this is explainable upon the princi- 
ple that the performance of function i;a'isi.s a greater deter- 
i; 



38 Acliiili/, and Size of Organs. 

mination of blood to the orean performing it, and as the blood 
contains the material of which the organ itself is composed, 
the capillaries, whose business it is to construct and repair 
the organ, do themselves participate in the increased activity 
of those which perform its peculiar function, and in that 
way cause its bulk to increase pari passu with the increase 
of function. According to the doctrine laid down in this 
paper, all that is necessary in order to produce an increase 
of function is to cause the transmission of a moderately 
increased quantity of blood to an organ ; and this will hold 
good whether it is an organ of motion, sensation or secre- 
tion ; and we may add that the performance of function 
causes the requisite quantity of blood to be supplied in pro- 
j)ortion to the demand, so long as the increased activity of 
the organ is kept up. 

We shall now, for the sake of illustration, assume with 
ohrcnologists that the brain is composed of a considera- 
ble number of organs, which give rise to as many distinct 
faculties of the mind, a ul proceed to inquire how the prin- 
ciples, which have been laid down, can be applied so as to 
increase the activity and sizeof the respective organs. The 
main principle, it will be recollected, is, that an increased 
fjuantity of blood must be determined to an organ in order 
to increase its function and size. As this part of our sub- 
ject more particularly regards the intellect, which a man is 
supposed to have always about him, we shall pursue the inves- 
ti^at'on on principles purely intellectual, irrespective of those 
physical agents, as wine, opium, and other stimulants which 
have been hinted at, and which are sometimes resorted to 
for the promotion of mental activity ; but which may not 
alwa,} s be at command ; and if they were, should be avoided, 
because their effects are too evanescent to accomplish the 
object we have in view, and moreover tend to deteriorate 
and ultimately destroy the functions both of body and of 
mind. It becomes necessary, in this view, to advert again 
to the influence of attention in modifying the actions of the 
yvstcm. Ill a former part of tlii? paper wc have considered 



How to increase them. 39 

its agency in the production ot" tiie voluntary motions, and 
showed that it was the principal or sole agent employed by 
nature to connect the will witli certain muscles termed vol- 
untary, and briefly alluded, by way of analogy, to its 
power in enabling us to get a control over the actions of the 
capillary vessels of the brain, by which we were enabled to 
carry on voluntary thinking, upon any subject on which w;; 
chose to think. At present, as in the former instance, wc 
shall contiue to employ the term attention not in its ordinary 
acceptation, but in its logical sense, which is, "the immediate 
direction of the mind to a subject." 

Now the actions of the body are carried on in health so 
stealthily as not to awaken consciousness in the mind, and 
therefore, an individual so long as he is in perfect health, 
does not know that his heart beats, or arteries pulsate, or 
that the process of digestion, or indeed any other, is going 
on within his body. In health, the action of the heart is 
perfectly balanced by the resistance of the capillaries over 
the whole body ; but if the attention be directed to and fixed 
upon any particular part, the minute vessels in that part, 
upon the principle, that the stronger external, effaces the 
weaker internal impression, forego their resistance, and 
admit more red blood, which not only exalts its sensibilitv, 
and therefore enables it to perceive impressions which be- 
fore were imperceptible ; but stimulates the vessels to an 
increased action, or resistance, which now becomes capable 
of awakening consciousness in the mind. If a person fix 
the attention upon any part of the body,* to any spot for 
instance, not larger than a sixpence over the knee-pan, if 
you please, which is, perhaps, more free than almost any 
other part, from vessels that pulsate, he will in a few min- 
utes, especially if the experiment bo repeated a few times, 
perceive a sense of throbbing, which had never been felt 
before ; and every one is familiar with the ibrt. that when 



• If the attention be closely directed lo eiiiier haml, a chtinge in the circula- 
Sion, aiiil PDnBequenily in thef-'elins; of thni organ will h? immediately perceiveH . 



4i) Activity, and Size of Organs. 

we see or hear a person cough or yawn, the attention is 
unconsciously turned inward, upon the throat or muscles of 
the jaw, we soon experience in ourselves the same sensa- 
tions as were experienced hy him who is the subject of our 
observation ; to relieve which, the desire to cough or yawn 
becomes almost, and in some cases, quite irresistible. Even 
the sight of food will make the hungry dog slaver as was 
remarked by Darwin. Upon this principle, we explain the 
fact, that almost every medical student, especially if he be 
of a nervous or hypochondriacal temperament, feels in a 
greater or less degree, the symptoms of the diseases about 
which he reads, or upon which he meditates. A young- 
gentleman, a student of medicine, called on me one evening, 
after hearing my lecture on dropsy of the chest, and asked 
my opinion as to the propriety of an immediate performance 
of the operation, for evacuating the water with which he 
was persuaded his thorax was filled. I explained to him 
the nature of his case, and heard no more of it. A moderate 
determination of blood to an organ, we have said, is all that is 
necessary in order to increase its function, and by increase 
of function, to augment its volume ; and as we have seen 
that fixing the attention of the mind upon any particular 
part of the body, causes more blood to flow into that part, it 
follows that we may by this mode of procedure, increase 
at will the functions of the different organs in the brain, 
upon whose activity, the various faculties of the mind de- 
pend, and furthermore, that by increasing the activity of 
function, we come at length to augment the volume, size and 
power of the organs themselves.* As a proof that we pos- 
sess this power of calling any faculty into action, by fixing 
the attention upon the site of its appropriate organ, I would 
invite a phrenologist, or any one acquainted with the lo- 
cality of the difterent org:ms, to fix his attention upon the 



* The auilior is quite confulent that in som? points the configuration of his 
own head has undergone a change, whinh he thinks has been effected liy this pro- 
ceed. 



How to increase them. 41 

organ of indiviiluulily, and see if ho does not find his mind 
instantly engaged in considering individuals, persons or 
things ; — upon the oi'gan of locaUty, time, form, size, weight, 
color, or tune, and see if his mind be not immediately em- 
ployed in forming and considering ideas suggested by those 
several organs ; — also upon the organs appropriated to the 
sentiments, as benevolence, conscientiousness, etc., and see 
if the same results do not follow ; and moreover, 1 believe 
ho will find that the same doctrine holds equally in regard 
to the propensities. Let him for instance, fix his attention 
on the organ of acquisitiveness, and he will soon be think- 
ing of wealth, or devising the means of acquiring it; — upon 
destructiveness, and he will be rioting in bloodshed and 
slaughter ; and if every individual in an asscml)ly or crowd, 
were to fasten his attention upon liis organ of combativc- 
ness, there would soon be quarreling, and perhaps fighting. 
To make use of this principle in the education of the organs, 
or the acquisition of knowledge, I would suggest that when 
we would get a complete idea of an object, let the organ of 
individuality be first invoked, in the manner proposed, next 
locality, next form, size, weight, color, order and number, 
and we shall have a perfect conception or notion of the 
thing itself, and also in most cases of iis various circumstances, 
connections, relations, &;c. We siiall in fact have made a 
complete analysis of it, and when we would recall it for 
subsequent reflection, we have only to make the organs 
repeat the same actions, and the same complex idea will be 
instantly recognized as before the mind's eye. The various 
organs of the brain are rendered relatively active by an 
impulse from within, i. e. an increased determination ot' lilood 
to them, and then they will form the ideas which are con- 
genial to the function of the organ rendered thus active. 
This mode of activity the phrenologists tei-m conception, 
and is nearly allied to fancy, or imagination ; and differs from 
memory in this, that the ideas suggested in this way are in- 
dependent of the will, whereas in exercising the memory 
upon WAX subiect v.-jiich had bo'="n previously in the mind. 



42 Education of the Senses. 

we have only to miike llie same organs by an eflbrt ol" the 
will perform the same actions as were performed by them 
in the first instance, and then the same ideas, and the same 
trains of thought will pass through the mind. 

EDUCATION OK TIIC SENSES. 

The following remarks upon the education of the senses 
will conclude the subject. As the senses are the primeval 
inlets of knowledge — the savans that collect all the materi- 
als which are to furnish employment for the mind during 
its sojourn in its tenement of clay, the importance of the 
subject would seem to cliallenge more time, attention, and 
ability, than we can give it ; but we entertain the hope that 
it will commend itself to some one who will do it ample 
justice. It is said that the senses of smell and taste, furnish 
no materials for the mind to reflect on. If " perfumes as of 
Eden flowed sweetly along" — if ambrosia or nectar, the 
fabled food and drink of the gods, rested upon the tongue, 
neither the exquisite flavor of the one, nor the enchanting 
aroma of the other, would leave an impression that could 
be recalled for the scrutiny of the mind.* Placed as these 
senses are at the entrance of those passages through which 
food and air, the extraneous substances essential to our 
physical existenc(i are admitted, they seem designed by na- 
ture to jierform the office of sentinels to advise us that sub- 
stances hurtful or ofiensive to tlie body are present; and 
which if permitted to pass these portals of the system, may 
disturb its economy, and ultimately dislodge the immortal 
resident, — therefore, as soon as the danger is past, tiiey are 
of no farther use. This sui-ely is in perfect accordance 
with the frugality of nature, which does nothing in vain ; — 
never comes short and seldom exceeds. In the education of 



Comb ill his Essays, on Phrenology, says : 

* " The functions of this sense, ( tasle ) ave to produce sensations of losle alone 
and these cannot be recalled by the will. The functions ot smell are confined 
to the producing of agreeable or disagreeable sensations, &'. Those cannot be 
reprodored by an efliirt of the will." 



Education of the i>c)i.ws. 48 

the senses, I am persuaded tliat an importaiit principle lias 
been overlooked, and consequently a great error coimnittcd 
by neglecting the consideration that they arc all in the per- 
formance of their functions, connected with muscles, whose 
actions are cognizable to the mind, and in a greater or less 
degree under the control of the will, and that without due 
attention to this fact, the education of the senses can never 
be perfected. In regard to the sense of smell, no odor is 
perceived, however strongly impregnated or even saturated, 
the atmosphere may be with its effluvia, unless the muscles 
of respiration are called into action, and inspiration takes 
jilacc, as in ordinary breathing, involuntary it may be, or 
voluntary as when we smell of a substance, with a view to 
ascertain its peculiar odor, or to make some nice distinction^ 
or to enjoy the voluptuousness of some particular fragrance. 
It is averred by some whose sense of smell has been cul- 
tivated, or rather educated, that they can recall the odor of 
any substance which ihey have examined in this way, and 
rellect upon it as they can upon any other sensation. This 
I doubt not, is almost, if not entirely the result of education; 
for with many persons, and I have reason to believe, with 
a great majority of mankind, it is not so, owing to their 
having neglected to bestow the same attention upon this 
sense, as ujion those of sight and touch. If this sense is to 
be educated, it must be done as in all other cases, by the 
efforts of the will. We must first desire knowledge ; then 
labor for its attainment. ^luch the same views hold good 
in the regard to the sense of the taste. That sense remains 
dormant, unless the muscles connected with, or subservient 
to it are put in action. For instance, if the mouth be open- 
ed, and a piece of sugar, or a piece of aloes, the diagonals 
of sapidity, be put upon the tongue, no other than a mere 
mechanical impression, will be made upon the organ of 
taste, no flavor will be perceived so long as the tongue is 
kept motionless ; but the instant the slightest movement is 
made, the characteristic taste of either will be perceived, 
and the only way in vihich this sense, like that of smell, can 



44 Education of the Senses. 

be educated, is to fix the attention upon the tong-ue, and then 
cause it to perform motions as in tasting, and to notice 
those particular motions in each individual case or experi- 
ment, and when the substance tasted, is removed, if we 
would recall the perception of its flavor, we must cause the 
tongue to perform again the same motions which it did, 
when the sapid body was present, and again the peculiar 
flavor of the substance tasted will be perceived.* In this 
manner the sense of taste, as well as smell, is brought to 
such exquisite perfection, as in the case of cooks and apoth- 
ecaries, that they are enabled to analyze by the odor and 
flavor, the most complicated dishes and medicines with all 
but chemical accuracy. 

EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 

This noble organ is a perfectly formed optical instrument, 
endowed with vitality. Its external shell is composed of the 
cornea and sclerotica, the former, situated in front, is perfect- 
ly transparent for the admission of the rays of light, and is 
also more convex, which augments its converging power. 
The centre of the cornea con-esponds to a small circular 
' spot or foramen in the posterior part of the retina, (foramen 
ccntrale, or foramen of Soemmering, so called from its discov- 
erer,) whose margin in the perfect eye is of a bright yellow 
coloi", and in whose centre is the appearance of a hole about 
the size of a pin's head, which is according to Amnion, a 
mere depression of the surface of the retina occasioned by 
the more intimate union at this point of the choroid and reti- 
na by the intermedium of vessels, and is consequently, ac- 
cording to the doctrine laid down in this treatise, the most 
sensitive part of the retina, the sensibility of a part being in 
proportion to its vascularity. This minute centra! point of 
the foramen receives that single pencil of light which strikes 
and enters the centre of the cornea perpendicularly to its 
surface, and passes on in a direct line to the point above- 



* It will-be necessary to repeat tliis experiment on the taste, and also on tlic 
snicll, a <:veul many linicp, before the result above mcutioned, will beobtaincfl. 



Sight. 45 

menlioned, (the foramen centrale,) without being at all re- 
fracted in its passage through the denser media of the cor- 
nea and humours. A line passing through the centre of 
the cornea at a right angle with its external surface, and 
terminating in that foramen, may bo called the axis of the 
eye, or the axis of vision, as it may be referred to in 
relation to the organ itself or its function, and which is al- 
ways directed with great exactness towards the object or 
point looked at. The point in the oliject at which we look, 
and from which the pencil of light entering the eye in the 
manner just described is reflected, is the most luminous, and 
consequently most perfectly seen, and therefore, may be 
termed by way of distinction, the point of vision. It is 
indeed the only part that is seen with perfect accuracy : 
and this is as it should be ; for, as we can attend to but one 
thing at a time, nature designed that we should see perfectly 
one thing only at a time, but as ever}" object ujion which 
we look, or upon which the eye rests, is composed of pai'ts, 
or surrotuided by otlier things, it was no less tlie design of 
nature that while the eye was busied wiih a single point, 
light reflected from other pnints aliout it. should lie admitted 
into the organ, and make impressions upon the retina in the 
vicinity of the foramen of Soemmering, wliich, although 
faint, compared with those made upon the foramen itself, 
were nevertheless, safficicnllv strong, to a^"4uaint the indi- 
vidual with their existence, and to excite in him a desire to 
examine them: a desire which will prompt him to move the 
eye, and direct the axis of vision to and successively over 
every part, that all portions may be seen an.d examined with 
the same accuracy. When, tl-ercfore, we would see an 
object in the most perfect maamer, and get a complete idea 
of it, we must move the eye, .so as to carry the axis of 
\isiou over every part of it ; .and when this is done with 
suitable care and attention, we can liardly fail of getting a 
i-orrect and complete notion of if, comprising all its parts 
;ind properties, as color, shape and size, and in fact, of its 
relations to, and connections v.-ifh, other tilings. If the thing 
r 



46 Educaliun of the Senses. 

surveyed, be kirge or complex, it may be analyzed or di- 
vided into parts, each of which in succession, may be ex- 
amined in the same manner. Thus, the eye may be edu- 
cated, and made capable of increasing to an inconceivable 
degree the amount of knowledge, exact and definite, that 
may be acquired through the medium of this noble sense, 
which seems to conier on man a sort of ubiquity, that ena- 
bles him to take cognizance of every object within the cir- 
cle of his vision, as if in his immediate presence. Without 
an apparatus of motion, the eye, though a perfect optical 
instrument, would be of little use. because when immove- 
ably fixed for any considerable time on any object, even 
the point of vision becomes more and more dim and obscure, 
until the power of perception is entirely lost, and the organ, 
so far as that particular object is concerned, is useless ; but 
the slightest movement restores its power. This accords 
fully with a lav/ of the system, which has been already ad- 
verted to and explained, to wit : that a jiart to which a 
stimulus has been constantly or repeatedly applied, loses 
its susceptibility to that particular impression. 

Besides being an optical, the eye is also a mathematical 
instrument. It is the quadrant which the God of nature has 
bestowed on man for the purpose of enabling him to calcu- 
late heights, distances and magnitude, by simply noticing 
the degree of contraction exercised by certain musics em- 
l)olyed in carrying the axis of the eye and of vision from one 
object to another : or from one part of an object to another 
part ; — or of lengths and distance, by carrying it from one 
end of a thing to the other ; — or from place to place. With- 
out the trouble of making actual admeasurements, the well 
educated and experienced eye is capable of making all these 
estimates, with an accuracy sufficient to answer nil the ordi- 
nary purposes of lif', auil which, with extraordinary culti- 
vation, will fall vei'y little short of mathematical certainty. 
The joiner or carpenter, for instance, who has been in the 
habit (jf measuring with the eye. will tell you at a glance 
\hr Icna'h of a ]iicci' of linilirr ;'<; corn-ftlv as a careless 



Sight. 47 

measurer would do with his rule, and the expericnecd eye 
of liio engineer enables hiin to judge with astonishing accu- 
racy of the height or distance of an object without his sextant 
or (juadrant. I once knew a tailor, noted for his good fits, 
who had brought this power of measuring by tise eye to 
such pertection, that he seldom, if ever, had recourse to his 
measure tor tlu; cut of a coat ; ns an evider,cc of the fact, 
he cut the uniform coats lor a whole company of inlantry, 
belonging to the town in which I resided, without a single 
failure, or even an hidifierent lit. lie required but a minute's 
survey of eacii soldier. Brown, the celebi-ated cutter of 
full length profile likenesses, is another example in point. 

The eye takes cognizance of the color, size, hoiglit, dis- 
tance and relations of things. As color has l.ltle utility in 
the great system of nature, we shall conlino our remarks 
mostly to the manner in which height and distance, shape 
and magnitude are judged of through the instrumentality of 
this organ. Without finding fault with the explanations of 
this matter given by others, we shall bring forward a the- 
ory, (perhaps, wc should rather say. hypothesis.) for which 
we will bespeak a candid consideration, and only ask that 
it should be taken for what it is worth. W'e ought to pre- 
mise that the people of civilized nations, have by convention 
or law, established certain measures or standards for the 
admeasurement of space, and the magnitude of the things 
which it contains ; and wc believe that the mind, in judging 
ol these matters by the eye, docs so by noticing the degree 
of contraction exercised by the muscles, employed in carry- 
ing the axis of vision from one designated point to ano.her, 
or from one. end to the other, of one or another of these es- 
tablished measures or standards. For instance, we learn 
to judge of a foot, or yard, with the eye, by fixing the axis of 
vision on one end of a twelve inch rule or a yard-slick, and 
then carrying it to the other extremity, taking care to notice 
the degree of muscular contraction necessary to efiect this; 
or of an inch, or any other fractional part of the measure, 
by carrying the axis of vision from one point to another. 



48 Education of the Sc7ises. 

When this has been practised upon for a little time, the 
mind has obtained a standard which approximates to accu- 
racy in proportion to the number of times, and degree of 
attention with which the experiment has been tried. This 
standard and mode of judging are acquired unconsciously 
in early life, and in a manner which has, perhaps, never 
been thought of in our riper years. In the same way, 
standards for greater distances, as rods, furlongs and miles, 
quarters or halves of miles, are acquired. In order to a cor- 
rect understanding of the theory wo propose, we should 
premise that there is a point upon which the axis of vision 
always rests, and from which it imperceptibly, but we be- 
lieve, invariably starts wlien th.e e3ve is about to commence 
its survey for the measurement of the heiglit, distance, or 
magnitude of any object. This point, we shall endeavor to 
ascertain. The position which an individual in an erect pos- 
ture naturally assumes, is th.at, in which all parts of his body 
are so perfectly adjusted, with reference to the centre of gravi- 
ty, that the erect position is maintained with the least possible 
exertion of the muscles, and we may conceive of the possi- 
bility of this adjustment being so perfectly accurate, that 
the perpendicular might be maintained without any volun- 
tary muscular eflbrt whatever. The power and the habit 
of this adjustment, were acquired miconsciously in in- 
fancy and early life, and are constantly practised upon in 
riper years, to the end of our being, with a mere conscious- 
ness of the fact, that we possess them. Again, the sponta- 
neous action of the muscles attached to the eye-ball of a 
person in the position just described, would, in the absence 
of all volition, bring the axes of the eyes to correspond In 
direction with a horizontal line, crossing the perpendicular 
at right angles, so that the axis of vision will fall upon an 
object which is exactly on the same level with the eye. To 
illustrate : suppose a person situated on an exact level, and 
in the posture just described, with his eyes just five feet 
above that level, the axis of his vision would spontaneously 
rest upon a visible object at the same altitude with the eye. 



Sight. 49 

i. c. just five feet fibovc the level, 'i'iio truth of this propo- 
sition is not ill reah'ty at all atieetcd hy the distance which 
intervenes between the object and ihc eye, although, from 
the process of foreshortening it, may be apparently so. In 
relation to this poi7it d'appui of vision, another considera- 
tion presents itself, which is, tiiat the " globe or ball of the 
eye is not exactly spherical ; the lino forming the visual 
axis exceeds its transverse diameter,"' and "is parallel in the 
two eyes," consequently, an object cannot be looked at with 
both eyes at the same time. Although it may be simulta- 
neously perceived by both, one eye only looks at, sees and 
notices it. This however, holds true only in regard to a cer- 
tain distance ; for, notwithstanding, the correspondency of the 
axes of the eyes, yet, when all volition is si'spcnded, the spon- 
taneous action of the muscles of the eye balls will produce a 
concurrence of their axes, and cause them both to rest upon 
the same object, if placed at a certain distance from the 
beholder, and it is then, and then only, that it will be looked 
at and seen, at the same time by both. From numerous 
experiments, we are convinced that this distance, at whicli 
an object is seen simultaneously with bolii eyes, is about 
forty yards, or irom forty to sixty, varying somewhat in 
difierent individuals, as the space between their eyes varies. 
Let a person facing the south, be placed on the level as 
before described, whose eyes are exactly hve tix't above that 
level, with his mesial line, (i. e. that line which divides the 
body into two equal halves, right and left, and consequently, 
is exactly midway between the eyes.) corresponding with the 
meridian, and let an object just large enough to be seen, be 
placed at the distance of eight rods irom the eyes, and on 
the same horizontal level, and at the point where this line 
is intersected by the meridional line afore-mentioned, and it 
will be Ibund that the axes of both eyes will come to rest 
concurrently upon it, by the spontaneous action of the mus- 
cles of the ball independently of all voluntary etTort to 
bring them to this point, or to produce this result. That, 
then, is the jwint rfnpptfi. n)>on v.hich the axis of vision 



30 E(lucalio77 of the Senses. 

rests, rnid from which wc believe, as before suggested, it 
starts wlicn llie mind is about to consider any object with 
the view of judging by the sight of its distance, lieight, 
shape or magnitude, and in so doing, it notes the degree of 
contraction made by said muscles, in carrying the axis of 
vision from that point to the base and summit of the object, 
when it would ascertain its height, or judge of its alti- 
tude ; also the degree of contraction necessary to carry the 
said axis from the aforesaid point d'appui, laterally from 
right to left, in order to ascertain tb.e length or breadth of 
the object, and for ascertaining its shape as well as size, the 
mind noticing the degree and modification of the contrac- 
tions of the several muscles, as they cause the axis of vision 
to trace the contour or outlines of the thhigs of whose shape 
it would form an accurate conception. 

Again : in front of a person, situated as has been just de- 
scribed, place a rod, five feet long, perpendicularly, so as to 
correspond with the mesial line, and the axis of vision can 
be readily brought to the lower extremity of the rod, 
(which is also just five feet in advance of a line dropped 
from the eye.) by a voluntary effort of the inferior straight 
muscle, without the slightest inclination of the head. If the 
axis be now made to pass up and down from one end of 
the rod to the other a number of times, the individual all 
the while, carefully noticing with what degree of contrac- 
tion the muscles act in order to accomplish this, will soon 
have acquired a standard of measurement, by which he can 
judge of and ascertain the height of any object at the dis- 
tance of five feet from the eye. If tlie rod be now removed 
to the distance of twenty feet, and made to assume the same 
position, and if the axis of vision be made to pass from the 
place occupied by its l(_>wcr extremity, to the point where 
it now rests, and this process be many times repeated in the 
manner aforesaid, he will have a standard of admeasure- 
ment, by which he will be enabled subsequently to judge 
with considerable accuracy, when the axis of the eye has 
been carried through the space of twenty feet on the same 



Si;rl,t. 51 

level, lie may iiuw fix the axis ol' vision upon the lower 
exlreiniiy of the rod in its now position, and carry it up- 
ward until it rests upon its upper end, and hy a few repe- 
titions, he will lind how much the muscles must contract in 
order to make the axis pass through the space oi" five feet, 
at the distance of twenty. In this way let the pupil be 
schooled, and in a short time he will acquire the power of 
measuring distances, and judging with wonderful accuracy 
of height and dimension in all directions, and at every 
ordinary distance within the customary field of vision. It 
is believed that every one, from the infant, sitting or stand- 
ing upon the lloor,* to the tallest Anakim in the land, has 
a puint d'appui of his own, which depends upon the distance 
of his eye above the afore-mentioned level. 

The use of the eye is commenced in c-arly infancy, and 
its education, if it be proper to employ that term in this con- 
nection, is carried on in the way which has been indicated, 
until the power and the art of measuring and observing has 
been acquired before the learner was aware of the manner 
in which this sense had been educated ; and perhaps many 
people pass through a long life ignorant of the iiict that they 
possess this power, and above all that they had liad any 
agency in its acquisition, supposing all the while that t!ie 
judgments they forined were intuitive, and that the knowl- 
edge resulting from the employment of this sense also came 
by a sort of intuition. Let the attention of the child and 
the puj/d be directed to this subject by the parent and the 
teacher, and let him be made to practice daily upon the prin- 
ciples suggested, and the results ascertained and tested by 
the actual application of the standards in use aniono the 
people, and it is the firm belief of the writer that ])Upils in 
a certain period will possess a much greater amount of 
knowledge, as well as stronger and far more comprehensive 



* 111 whatever posture the body may be, it is believed that tbis fixed or start- 
ing piint of lb? eye always exists, and is that to wliic-h Ibc axes oftlio eyosaro 
1 r ii^lit t/v the «p>ntnn(.'on!: action of tlf nmsclc? of lb'/ slobc. 



52 Kducatiun of the Senses. 

and active niinda, than they would have had il" this kind oi' 
culture had been neglected. If this belief be well founded, 
then let the method be tried in all our sch«ols, :md its piac- 
tice be enjoined upon the schuiais when out oi tchuol ; and 
also let it be adopted and practiced upon by every individ- 
ual in the community, and the writer ventures to think that 
all who make the attempt, and follow it up perseveringly for 
a considerable time wi'l be not only gratified, but astonished 
at the facility with which the eye furnishes the mind with 
clear, strong and complete conceptions of things. The grat- 
ification will moretlian compensate for the trouble; indeed 
the eye will soon do its work without trouble or effort. 
Conceptions, clear and strong, will seem to come as b}' in- 
tuition. If complex, embracing great objeects, compounded 
of many parts ; — or prospects comprising many different 
things, those parts and things will be conceived and judged 
of in their places and relations, without those movements of 
the organ to which we liave alluded ; also the relative dis- 
tances between the various parts and things will be settled 
in the mind by simple inspection, because we know, having 
learned by experience, how much the nauscles of the eye 
must be made to contract in order to carry its axis from 
part to part, or from one thing to another. In this way wc 
explain the fact that we often get complex notions, and mea- 
sure distances without moving the eye. (See page 45.) 

In conclusion, I will add, that in no way is the accuracy 
with which the axis of the eye is directed to a point, and 
the corresponding accuracy of adjustment of the contrac- 
tion of the muscles connected with the limbs so well exem- 
plified as in the art of gunnery. In the shooting line, the 
feats of Mr. M. .Tames, my neighbor across the way, who 
is the best manufactiu-er of rifles in America, and probably 
the best marksman with that kind of gun in the world, are 
wonderful, \i' i\<A marvellous. In gunnery, and military and 
civil engineering, the education of the visual organ is of na- 
tional importance. . If the eye of every soldier, marine and 
gunner in the United States Arn)y and Navy was perfectly 



Hearing. 53 

educated, they would be terrible foeiiicu to tlie enemies of 
tlie country. Nor is tiiis the only respect in which the edu- 
cation of the eye is of national importance, fir show mean 
artisan whose eye lias been schooled to jicrfection, and I will 
show you a jierfect handicraftsman. Ii is hardly necessary 
to say, that the eye of the medical man, es]iecially if he be 
a surgeon, should be well cikicatcd. 

OK Till'; SENSE O? llEAItliVO. 

Hearing is the sense by which we perceive sound. The 
ear, or more strictly sjieaking, the auditory nerve, is its a))- 
j-U'opriate organ — ^thc vibrations ot the air its [ihysical cause. 
It has been observed in a former jiart of this paper, that 
every organ is so constructeil, <:ir in other words its struc- 
ture and organization are such, that if it act at ail, it will 
perform its own legitimate function, and nothing else. I 
now observe that the arrangement of the auditory appara- 
tus is such, that if action be excited in the acoustic nerve, 
either at its termination in the labyrinth, or its origin in the 
brain, or indeed in any part of it along its course to its des- 
tination, sound will be produced; hcni'e it is that vibrations 
of solids or fluids, or mere cliangcs of circulation in the au- 
ditory apparatus, in the entire absence of the true ].)hysical 
cause, are cajiable (if producing sensations ol' sound ; as is 
]>roved by the niiises in tin' ear wliich are so olten com- 
])lained of by patients, and esjiecially those alllicted with 
that species of deafness which is termed nervous. From 
the action and changes of action in the organ of licaring 
the mind derives all its ideas of sound ; but simple audition 
does not in mnu, as in many animals, comprize the wtiolc 
function of the organ, which, like the other organs of sense, 
is capable of being greatly improved by education. So far 
as educational puriKises arc concerned, reiijrence is to be 
had mostly, if not exclusively, to those sounds which are 
caused by the vibrations or undulations of air impinging on 
the membrana tympani, or drum of the ear. The impor- 
tance of this sense, and oi' its cduciilion, can not be duly 



54 Education af Ike Senses. 

apprccialL'd, without taking iiiLu coiisidcrutiuii tlic tact that 
upon it tlio faculty of speech depends. Without it the lan- 
guage of the voice, and consequently one ot" the line arts, 
the one most capable ol enrapturing the soul, could never 
have existed. Without the '" concord of sweet sounds," the 
joy of heaven would be defective.* The education of this 
sense, it must bo admitted, is of the highest importance; but 
from the obscurity of the subject, its education has been left 
either to nature, to the individual efforts of each person, 
or almost entirely neglected. At all events, the yjrinciples 
upon whicii the success of educational exertions depend, do 
not appear to have been well developed or satisfactorily set- 
tled. The principle which we shall assume in regard to its 
education, is the same as that assumed in the education of 
the other senses, to wit, muscular contraction. We hold 
that in this respect the analogy extends to all the senses, 
for with each ot the five, muscles p.vc connected upon whose 
action their utility as instruments of intellection is based. 

ThJ tuiiscles connected with the sense of hearing, to 
which we have alluded, and which are attached to the chain 
of bones extending from the membrana tympaui. or drum 
of the ear, to the foramen ovale, are the tensor palati, laxa- 
tor pulati, and the stapedius. These muscles, thus situated 
and attached, are primitively, as well as consecutively affec- 
ted bv every motion communicated to those little bones, by 
the vibrations ot" that membrane, produced by undulations 
of the-air. or any other physical cause, and from that cir- 
cumstance are compelled, so to speak, to take cognizance of 
every kind and degree of movement which those bones are 
made to pertbrm. These changes in the state of those 
muscles, produced by the physical causes just alluded to, and 
modlticd by the pro[)erties peculiar to each, sooner or later 
awaken consciousness in the mind, and at length the desire 



« The car is susceptible ol" such exquisite cuitivation, that a devotee of music 
once assured me that ho woulc! be willing' " to he at hell's riark door," could he 
enji-'yili" iun"ie of henvru '. 



for their repetilion in tlic alisence ol' tlir cnusos wiiicli occa- 
sioncil them, and by repeatcti trials the indivitkuil fmally 
acquires the power of reproducing them at|i|easuro; thus 
the control of the will over the action of tliese muscles is ac- 
quired in the same way as it is acquired overall the other mus- 
cles which are considered voluntary. When t'lis ascendancy 
over those muscles, has been obtained, they cnn by an effort 
of the will be mado to act or rela:?, just r" tlioy did when 
influenced by this (.ir that physical c:nisf. and :'.n idea of tliu 
same sound will arise in the mind, as well in the absence as 
in the presence of the particular cause. For instance, when 
a person wishes to call to memory a pariiciilnr s^uind or 
the notes of a tune, he has only to make these muscles net 
so as to move the bones just as they were moved at the 
time when the sciund was made, or llio tune sung, and tlic? 
same sounds will bo recognized. The musician, when his 
eye falls upon a note or a series of notes, will cause these 
muscles to act and the bones to move, just as they did or 
should act and move when these notes v.'ore struck, and in 
this way will be able to think over a tune or piece of music 
as well in the absence as in tlie presence of the physical 
cause. In this way, if, when wo hear a noise r>r a voice for 
the first time, we have been attentive tu tl^; eliruigcs vihicli 
have taken place in the ear, we shall be able by an eilort of 
the will to re-produce the conception. Hut these are nut 
the only muscles which may subserve the function of hear- 
ing, and which should be considered in the education of tfiis 
sense. The muscles connected v.'ith the ossicula give us no 
ideas of the direction in which sounds come; a very impor- 
tant part of the knowledge t<i l-.e derived Ironi t!ie faculty of 
hearing. (1f this more hereai'ler. 

In a firmer i<;irt id'tliis paper.it h:is been remarked, that 
our sensations weri' essentially modified l>y tin; physical 
prnjiertics of the agents (>per;\ting upon th'- senses, and 
furthermi ire, that this was also indispensable; for without 
it. one sensation could not be distinguishrd from another. 
As the [iliysir?:!! ]i'-''p-^rties of the s:i;rif^ ?e!irf:^nef'-, are nl- 



56 Kiliicidhin lit the Str/isi's. 

ways the saiuu and idLiit.ical, it iblluws, that aloes is ahvn\'s 
bitter, and sugar always sweet, and that, tiicret'ore, there 
can never be any diiiiculty in distinguishing them ; and the 
same principle holds in regard to the capability of physical 
bodies, to modify the undulations or vibrations of air, and 
consequently, the sensations produced in the ear, furnish 
the same certainty of discrimination, as is done by the other 
senses, and upon this power of discrimination, de])ends in a 
great degree the real utility of this sense, whose final end 
is to enable us to apprehend the existence of agents which 
are not cognizable to the other senses, and likewise, to dis- 
tinguish them one from another ; and to determine their 
distances and positions, relations and situations in respect 
to ciich otlior, and to ourselves. A knowledge of the exis- 
tence of certain bodies or agents, by the sense of hearing, 
depends upon their capability or power of exciting undula- 
tions or vibrations in the media, with which they are con- 
nected, and which are capable of producing some change 
in the state of the auditory nerve ; and the power of dis- 
crimination, as has been observed, depends upon the man- 
ner in which those undulations or vibrations are modified 
by the physical properties of those agents. 

OF TlIK MEASUREMENT OF DISTAA'CE BV THE EAIi. 

Individual safety, as well as other important considera- 
tions may depend on our knowledge of the distance which 
intervenes between us, and the bodies causing the sound. 
Intensity of sound seems to be the principle of admeasure- 
ment by which the distance of a sonorous body is ascer- 
tained. The vibr;itions or undulations of the air, impinging 
against the membrane tympani, constitute the physical 
cause of sound, and the impulse communicated from that 
membrane in the auditcry nerve, through the medium of 
the chain of bones with which it (the membrane) is con- 
nected, is its proximate cause. Now, the muscles attached 
to the ossicula, or small bones of the ear. experiencing a 
chanc'o in their state of tension, take coirnizani-e of the mn- 



Hr.iinii;^. ;")7 

tinii wliicii \\\QM' Imiu's ;ii-c ii!:;iJ(; to iiiulul'go. mid l^'ino- 
endowed like otiicr voluntary muscles willi nervcM, which 
not only confer on thorn the power of motion, hnl the facul- 
ty of transmitting to the brain, the org;'n ot' mind, a know- 
ledge of the cha.ngcs in their ciauliiion, they excite in the 
rnind a consciousnr'ss of those changes. The stronger the 
Impulse, the greater will be the extent of the motions of the 
ossicula; and as this degree of motion in those bones, is 
measured and judged of bv the iiiliuiinv or eii'ect which it 
has on those nuiseles, a man is, in this way, furnished with 
means by which the intensity of sound, as a measure of dis- 
tance, is determined.* The jjrinciple upon which this de. 
pends is, that sound in its distribution throughout a larger 



* Nature, iio less bouiuifiil in her resourees, ihuii simple ia her o|ieralioiis, al- 
ways laks care not to he bahieil in Uer ]iurpnses, and has iherelore, in onler tu 
spcure against the iailnre of iunctions of vital iiiiporlance, I'urniphed nswilh double 
organs, and in like manner she has not, in relarion In the imensity of sound, con- 
lined the mode of jutlging solely to the muscles, e,\eept in cases in which great 
nicety is required ; but has so constructed the organs of hearing that vibrations 
shall be communicated to the auditory nerve by means of the membrane which 
subtends the fenestra rotunda, whose oscillations are, it is bcdicved, cajiable of ex- 
citing the nerve, not only in the presence, hut in the absence of the menihrana 
lynipani ; nor has she been satislied with this, but has superadded another meth- 
od by which sounds are perceived and their intensity judged of 1'he bony lab- 
yrinth is lined by a membrane or saeculus which encloses the liquid called iho 
perilymph. The autlitory nL'rve is distributed upon lliis meinbtatie, and in con- 
tact with the bony cavities which surround it. Now sonorous vibrations are, as 
is well known, eonimimicable thrr'Ugli solids, as well as throu-jh aerif'onn or 
fluid bodies, ami hence it is that the nerve receives impulses eomniunicatcd to it 
by the solids with which it is in contact, and takes cognizance of them, but willi 
much less accuracy, just as if they had been imiiarted by vibrations whose t'oree 
has been spent upon the flu'd eontaineil in the aforemenlitined membrane or 
saeculus, through the chain of bones, as has been ilescribed. In con.sequencc of 
these superaddeil arrangements, ^ve should be enabled to judge with some deirree 
of accuracy of the distance of sonorous bodies, by the intensity of the sound even 
if in case of accident wo were deprived of the membrana tyiupani, and all ihe 
ossicula. I have myself seen several persons who had lost those iiii| oilani parls, 
but who would nevertheless hear tolerably well, and if I rightly reni'-mber could 
distinguish musical sounds. If I am not mistaken, a lad similaily situated in- 
formed me that he couhl sing some tunes. \Vit!i what accuracy these persons 
could measure distances by the ear I cannot say, as it lias nut occurred to nie ever 
10 make that point a sabjoci of invesligalion or inquiry. 



58 Educntina of the Senses. 

;ind still larger quantity of matter diminishes as it diverges 
in every direction from the point at which it originated, and 
the rule of diminution, is in proportion to the square of the 
distance from the centre. For instance, the velocity of the 
particles of the medium hy which sounds are conveyed, is less 
by one hundred at the distance of ten feet from the sounding 
body, than it is at one foot. 

We judge of distance, by the ear, upon another princqile, 
til wit : the reflection or reverberation of sound. When 
tills is perfect, we have the echo ; which depends upon the 
distance, and this must be such, that to obtain a distinct 
repetition, the reflected sound shall not arrive at the ear, 
before the perception of the original sound has ceased ; 
otherwise, the resonance will be indistinct, a mere noise. 
VVc, no doubt, learn to judge of distances by the reflection 
of sounds, which are not, as in the echo, distinct; but in 
what manner, it is difficult to explain. We do it as in man}' 
other instances, by experience, obtained and practiced upon 
at an age too early to have been noticed with sufficient at- 
tention, to be recollected and explained in subsequent years ; 
although we may habitually act upon it many times during 
.almost every waking hour. It is, most jn'obably, in this 
way, that blind people acquire the faculty of judging of the 
dimensions of a room by the sound of the voice. Dr. Dar- 
win, was the first who suggested this idea. Taking the 
liint, from an anecdote I'clated in his Zoonomia,* I hav(! 
availed myselfof almost every opportunity which presented 
itself, in the course of an extensive practice in ophthalmic 
surgery, for the investigation of this curious subject, 
and have been often amused, and sometimes astonished at 
the accuracy with which the blind judge of distances by 
the ear, and especially the size of the diflerent apartments 
<ii' a building; l)ut 1 believe this power is pos':essed bv 



' " The i;Ui; .lustioc FisiJiii!; walked lor ilie first time into my room, when 
[\r: one(! visileil nie, aud alter speakhii^ :i few words, said ' thLs room is ahout 2-3 
feci hjiiii. is wide, and 12 feet higit;' n!i wliie'i he 'j^nrps^tl hy liie I'rrr \viili L'reai 
ni-i-nr:uv.'* — Dfjnrins Znonomiu. 



Hearing. 59 

1 Ik ISC (inly who were not bora bliiid, or wlio lost tlieir 
sight in very early life. " The resoiKiuce of rooms," 
says Arnott, " depends on this continued revcrbera- 
Lition,"* and this remark furnishes the principle upon which 
this method of judging is founded-f By the cultivation 
of this sense, as in the case of the blind, we are enabled 
to distiuguisli vvilh considerable accuracy the resonance r»f 
reflected sounds ; and in fact I have no doubt tliat in ordi- 
nary lile, without more than the common degree of culture, 
we practice continually and successfully, although uncon- 
sciously, upon this same principle in judging of distajice by 
the ear. Having learned by experience to distinguish sounds 
one from another in consequence of thtnr being modilied by 
the physical properties appropriate and peculiar to each 
cause, we at the same time, likewise, learn the force of 
sounds tiiiis modilied at the distance ot' one, two. or ten rods, 
&(•.. ; and at length wo come to judge, with considerable 
accuracy, of the distance of the cause wliioh produces this 
or that ]iarticular sound or noise, as modified by space : and 
the more familiar wc are with particular sounds, the more 
accurately shall we judge of distance by their means. 

There is one other consideration which should periiaps be 



• "It is worlliy of remark, tliaf every apnrtnieiit vr confined space lias a certain 
rniisical note proper to it, lire character ul wliicli depends upon llie number oi' 
pulses or repetitions, of a sound produced in a ;^ivpn lime by the returns from 
If: walls. The velocity of sound being uniform, tliis number must depend on 
tlic size of the apartment." — Arnott's Physics. These pulses or repetitions of 
sound are no doubt much more accurately perceived and distinguished by the 
blind, whosv other senses and especially that of hearing, have been cultivated 
with such care as to make amends in some degree for the loss ofsiglii. 

t If the distance intervening between the sonorous body and the suifiice by 
v.-hich the sound is reflected be less trian 48 or .")0 feet, the direct and reflected 
sounds will be blended, and the mire so the nearer the reflecting is to the sonor. 
oils body; and conseiiuontly the nicer and more cultivated must be the ear by 
u'liich tiiese sounds can be distinguished so as to draw any just conclusions as to 
distance. If less than one twelfth of a second of time intervene between the 
b-aring of the direct and reflected sontuts, iliere will be no distinct echo : but 
;i mere resonance : but if more than one iwelfih of a sreond iiiicr\eiie. there 
will be no resonance, but a complete echo 



00 Kdacaliuii of Ike SciU'Cs. 

taken into the account in connection with this part of our 
suhject, to wit : tlie eflect whicii the vibrations of the mem- 
brana tympani, and the movements of the ossicula have upon 
the chorda tympani, a nerve connected with the tendon of the 
stapedius muscle, and also with the long leg of the incus, 
and the manubriuu), or handle of the malleus, to which it 
is so very closely attached, and that too so very near its cen- 
tre of motion that no inovemcut in the latter can possibly 
happen which docs not allcct this nerve. Itshould be recol- 
lected, moi-eover, that the above-mentioned nerve also passes 
near the insertion of the tensor tympani into the short pro- 
cess of the malleus, and lurthernioi'e that it makes its exit 
out of the cavitv of the tympanum in company with the 
musculus extcrnus mallei. 

Dnir.CTio?* A.\'i) srriJATio\ of sonorous bodies. 

Nature, allhougii bountiful in lier gifts, is chary in the be- 
stovvment of tliem under circumstances in whicli they could 
be turned to no good account by the recipient. No benefit 
could inure to the inlant to be able to judge of the distance 
and direction of sonorous bodies before he possessed the 
power of avoiding such as might be hurtful, or of appre- 
hending and appropriating such as might be useful or pleas- 
ing: hence ho lias been left to learn by experience how to 
acquire this important faculty of judging of the distance and 
direction of the causes of sound. It is, hovv'ever, to be re- 
gretted that in the case of nearly every individual the edu- 
cation of the senses has been allowed to go on ])(/ri passu 
with their employment, altogether indc[X)ndeijt of any spe- 
cial etii)rt for their improvement ; while it has been known 
to every observer that tliey were susccjitible of the highest 
degree of culture : as in cases where persons bereft of one 
sense, have Ijy cultivation brought another to such perfec- 
tion, as to become almost a substitute for that of which they 
had been deprived. Is not the education of the senses, (the 
primeval inlets of all our knowledge,) a subject too impor- 
tant to be left to chance, <>r undirected, unassisted individual 



Hearing. 61 

ellort? orsliou!il it not rather have a place in all our systems 
of education, especially such as are elementary? 

As in vision, although light is recivcd into both eyes, yet 
wo look at and see an object with but one, unless it be placed 
at a distance of more than 10 or 50 yards, and in a position 
corresponding with the mesial line of our bodies ; so, in 
iicaring, sound is received by both c:irs, but jjcrceived by 
one only, unless the sonorous body be located either directly 
before or behind, and in strict accordance with the line 
above mentioned ; or in other words exactly equidistant 
from either ear ; in which case we hear the sountl equally 
with l)oth, but we can not tell from what direction it comes. 
When the cause of sound is on either side of the mesial 
line, and especially if a lillle distance from it, it is heard 
best l)y the ear to which it is nearest. In the eye, a line 
drawn from the centre of the cornea, at right angles witli 
its surlace, to the foramen of Soemmering constitutes the 
axis of the eye, and a ray of light redecti.'d Irom :m oiiject, 
which enters the coatre of the cornea at right angles with 
its surface, and passing on unrefracted to the albrosaid fora- 
men, may be said to be the axis of the (>ye, or id' vision ; so 
in the car, a line j)assing directly from the soiioruus body 
through the middle of the external meatus to the point in the 
centre of the memhriuia tympani ;!t which the extremity of 
the handle of the malleus is attached to that membrnne, con- 
stitutes the axis of the ear, or of hearing in rel'erence to 
function, and a ra}' o|' sound passing from the sonorous body 
and entering the meatus in the same directit)n,and im[iinging 
upon the same point of connection belvvc:en the handle ol' 
the mallvns and the niembrana tympani, will nuike the 
strongest impression upon the auditory nerve, and conse- 
quently will cause the clearest auditi'in. This point of 
attachment betv/een the handle of the malleus and the mem- 
brana tympani is to the car what the foramen of Soemmer- 
ing is to the eye. Uecause soiUids entering the ear in this 
direction are best heni'il, we !u:u the head one way or the 
otliL'r, until the axis of the ear is directed exactly to the place 
n 



G2 Education nf the Sensfis. 

\vliciice the sound proceeds, and which is instantly recog- 
nized by an ear that has been only slightly trained. When 
that has been accomplished, we are no longer in doubt as 
to the direction of the sonorous body. This is t!ic true atti- 
tude of listening, especially when we are anxious to catch or 
discriminate any certain sounds, or to apprehend them for 
some definite purpose. I have no doubt we have the power 
of judging of the direction and situation of sonorous bodies 
by the echo or reverberation of the sound, and likewise by 
its resonance : but this is perhaps but seldom attempted with 
much success except by persons whose sense of hearing has 
been educated and. considerably practised in this respect. It 
is, however, undoubtedly true that every person is constantly 
though unconsciously practising upon this principle, which 
is based on the fact that in sound, as in light, tiie angle of 
reflection is always equal to the angle of incidence. It is 
exceedingly probable that reflection of sound by the exter- 
nal ear, and its ixsonance in the meatus, as well as its reflec- 
tion from surrounding bodies, have an important bearing 
upon this branch of the function of hearing. The wave of 
siiund, acting upon the column of air occupyingthis passage, 
puts it in motion. If the axis of this column be at right 
angk.'s witli the circumference of the wave of sound, the 
strongest impulse will be on that portion of the membrana 
tympani which is attached to the extremity of the handle of 
tke malleus; but if the axis of this column of air be oblic|uc 
to the circumference of tlic wave, the impulse will be com- 
municated to some portion of the clastic walls of the pas- 
sage, and rctiecled jierhaps again and again before it impin- 
ges upon any ])art of the tympanum, or drum of the ear ; 
now as sound, like light, travels through the air in straight 
lines, we lenrn to follow back, so to speak, these reflections 
of sounds, and in this way to form a judgment, imperfect it 
may be, of the direction of the causes which originated 
them. When a sound is heard, which has been heard be- 
fore, perliap;; many limes, ;uid sometimes in tlie attitude of 
listening, i.e. in the directi'iii nf the axis of the car, so that 
an idr'a of it and also of ils )iliysii:al cause bus been under 



Hearing. G;{ 

such circuiiistaiice,-; lonnod, we 1ki\o tlu'ii in liie niind :i 
standard with wiiicii it is at every subsequent iiearing com- 
pared, and when a dilt'erence is found to exist between the con- 
ception of the re-hcaring and the hearing on a prior occasion, 
and having hkewise learned hy experience, that this diflerencc 
is caused by difference of direction only; we change the 
position oi the car so as to admit the sound in a line which 
corsponds with its axis, — when the judgnient in respect to 
the direction and situation of the sonorous body is immedi- 
ately settled. It is altogether probable that we are, in the 
first instance, led to attend to the direction of sonorous 
bodies, very mucii in the same way as we are to that of 
visible objects, and that riio principles of judging are the 
same in both cases, to \\\k muscular contraction. To be a 
little more particular : When the axis of vision is fixed on a 
point, other objects in the field of vision will be discerned, 
though less perfectly seen, yet vi'ith sufficient clearness and 
distinctness not only to inform us of their existence, but to 
excite cariosity and prompt the individual to turn the axis 
of the eye upon them in succession, for the purijose of ex- 
amination. The same, to a certain extent, holds in regard 
to the ear. Sounds arc heard in various directions other 
than that of the axis of the ear, }et with a distinctness 
which, as in the case of vision, jirompts the individual, espe- 
cially in early life, to alter tlie j)osition of the ear in order 
to get a more perfect conception. This method soon be- 
comes habitual, and is continued ihrougli life. In this wav 
we are induced primarily to attend to the direction of sound, 
and to jorni judgments concerning il. in regard to the 
training and practice, the analogy between the eve and the 
ear holds with considerable strietnesj. In seeing, we jud^e 
of the direction of objects without moving the eye. because 
we have learned by experience how much the glijbe of the 
eye, or in some instances the whole head must be turned ; 
in other words, how much this or that muscle, or sett of 
muscles, must be made to contract in order to cause the axis of 
the eye to be directed to an object whose reflected light enters 
the eye in a direction divergent from its axis; so in hearinir 



64 Education of the Senses. 

when sounds enter the car in a direction different from that 
of its axis, having learned from frequently repeated trials 
how far the ear must be moved that its axis may correspond 
with the direction in which the sound comes, we judge of 
that direction without moving the organ. It should be con- 
stantly borne in mind, that in our physical organs, as well 
as intellectual faculties, improvement is the sure reward of 
exercise, and that exercise is the essential pre-requisite, the 
sine qua non of improvement in both ; and furthermore, that 
improvement will be nearly in proportion to exercise. The 
exercise and education of the senses, and especially that of 
hearing, the anatomical structure of which seems to be per- 
fect at birth, should commence in very early life, and be 
carried on in the nursery, the parlor, and the public school- 
room, under the direction of the parent or public teacher. 
The child or pupil may be hoodwinked, and various articles 
of diflbrent metals and components, as glasses, tea-cups and 
saucers, bowls, pitchers, &c. &c., of different sizes and in 
different directions, may be struck, and the learner called 
upon to designate the article, aiv] to judge of its size, direc- 
tion and distance from the ear. The walk or step of differ- 
ent persons ; the kind of carriages or vehicles passing in the 
streets, whether they be loaded or empty, and the kind of 
loading, &c., may be made questions to exercise the ear and 
judgment of the pupil. In these, and a thousand other ways 
which the ingenuity of the parent or teacher will suggest, 
this sense may be cultivated and improved. The habit 
well establisiicd in childhood, will be continued, and the 
hearing perfected in after life, to a degree of which very 
few have any just conception. As an ear attuned to music, 
is capable of ministcrint^ so greatly to'the happiness of man- 
kind ; and as almost every child whoso ear has been duly 
educated, may be taught to sing,* or at least, enabled to 



* The power of tlie will over llu' muscles which modulate tlie tones of tlie 
vocal organ, is acquireJ as in the case of the larger muscles, which are by com- 
mon consent deemed v51untary. The process is in both cases the same, and has 
been detailed on page 20 and 91. It is applicable to the education of the voice. 



Touch. 65 

cxpcrii'i!<-(: the tlL'liii;lit, whicli is a\v;ikciiO(l in the soul, l)y a 
" coiK'ord of sweet soiiirIs,'' great |iaiiis siioiilil lie taken to 
educate tlio ear lor the perception of musical sounds, but 
being so unlbrtunate as not to have an car for music, the 
author is incapable of giving any directions for tiie attain- 
ment of that object. However, he indulges tlie hope, that 
the time is not far distant, wlien music will hi; taught in ail 
the elcniculary scliools in tliis, as it is in other countries, 
especially in Cieruiany. 

op THE SENSE or TOUCH. 

Anatomically and physiologically considered, the philoso- 
phy of the touch is less perfectly understood, than that of 
either of the other h^cnses. The cause ol' this has most pro- 
bably arisen from the number of sensations, as heat, cold, 
weight, dryness, moisture, anxiety, itching, hunger, thirst, 
pleasure, pain, roughness and smoothness, which have been, 
Willi what pi'opriety, we shall not stop to inquire, attributed 
to it. In regard to most of these scnsaiioiis, there is very 
likely, a special modification of structure adapted to the 
perception of each of them. As all animals. I'rom man in 
whom it is the most perleet, down to the polypus, possess 
this sense in a greater or less degree, it may fie deemed the 
universal sense. By means of it, wo become first ac- 
quainted with bodies extraneous to ourselves, and it is in- 
deed the '-)nly one which convinces us of the actual exist- 
ence of the external world. As extraneous matters may 
come in contact with every part of the stu'fiice of our 
bodies, for weal or for woe, so every portion of that surface 
has becn-endovved with the sense of feelinij:' but in man. 



* '* Tlie touch (listril)utetl over the whole surface, apjiL^ars to be the cleiiicn- 
tary sense ; and all tlie others are only moilificalioiis of it, acconnnoilalccl to 
certain properties of bodies.'' — Richerand. 

This view of RicheranJ's is certainly in aceordaiiee with ihc beautiful siin- 
plicily of nature, and is very likely to lie true, the necessary modifications being 
added to the original ground-work. Although the touch has been termed the 
geometrical sense, it is notwiihstauding now and iheu liable to err. 



6(j Kdacalion of the Senses. 

as in animals, some jjarts oi it are more scasilive, niid bettor 
fitted than others, to make us acquainted witli surrounding 
objects. They are, therefore, better adapted to the purpo- 
ses of inteliection, and maj' on that account, be more ap- 
propriately considered as the organs to which this sense has 
been particularly allotted : as the hand, for instance, and also 
the lips and tip of the tongue. From the readiness and facili- 
ty, with which the eye and ear are employed in the investi- 
gation of things, the sense of touch, which is the corrector, 
and in fact, the most important of all the senses, has been 
comparatively neglected, and consequently, its education 
overlooked ; but the success which has attended modern 
attempts to improve the mental condition of the blind, and 
accounts of the perfection to which the sense of touch has 
been brought in more than one instance, establish the fact, 
that it is suscoijtible of the highest degree of improvement 
by culture. Notwithstanding this neglect, man, so far as 
liis own faculties are concerned, is incJebtcd to this sense for 
his sublime station at the head of this sublunary creation ; 
for we find in looking through the whole range of animated 
nature, that the place assigned to the several tribes of ani- 
mals is elevated in proportion to the degree with wiiich they 
have been endowed with this sense. 

The other senses are all prompted to action by the prop- 
erties of matter, and of those only do they take cognizance; 
but the sense of touch makes us acquainted with matter 
itself The licaring has to do with the undulations or vibra- 
tions of matter ; the smell, with its odors ; the taste, with its 
flavors, and some of its chemical properties ; the eye with 
its properties by which light is reflected ;* but tlie touch 
being conversant with matter itseUi is not only less liable to 
mistakes ; but is, as has been hinted, the corrector of all its 
congeners. It is truly the geometrical sense, and gives us 
results with mathematical precision, so long as its functions 



* ]| is not yet settled among philosopheis uhcllier linht is n m?R' properly oi' 
mntler, or nu nli^olnle hoiiv : a liiminiferotis ptlit'r. 



Touc/i. (57 

arc coiiiiucd to propiirties indicating the occupancy of space, 
as length, brcadtli. 6cc., wliicli are pjcrhaps, in strict con- 
struction, its legitimate objects. In the performance of this, 
its most appropriate function, it should be recollected that 
this sense like the others, is connected with certain muscles, 
upon whose contraction, its accuracy depends, and that this 
muscular contraction, as in the other senses, is the basis 
upon which every educational effort must depend tor suc- 
cess To this proposition, there is one apparent exception, 
which is not, however, without analogy. The subcutaneous 
substance is of a middle nature between the cellular tis- 
sue, and muscular lilire. and consequently, has a degree of 
contractility, intermediate between that belonging to those 
structures, and hence, the power of judging of the figure and 
size of bodies which are merely pressed against the person, 
without motion either in them, or the part of the body in 
contact with them.* In this connection, wo may mention 
that there arc certain other portions oi the surface of the 
human body, covering the erectile tissues which are en- 
dowed with an highly sublimated and jicculiar modilicatiun 
of the sense of toucli ; but this, being of a voluptuous char- 
acter, does not seem to be very well fitted to enlarge the 
boundaries of knowdedge, or increase the mental powers. 

This modification, was considered by Buffon, as a sixth 
sense. 

Most animals, and perhaps all, have parts lictter arlapted 
to the exercise of this sense than others; in man. the lips, 



* Itis owing to ill ■ tliijiiking or slirivellin;,' oliliis subcutaneous suhsUnei>, 
and also pi^iliaps partly lo the shiinkiu^ and wrinlvlcd statu ul the skin itself, 
wliieh may be indeeil only the result of the above-mentioned causes, that the 
touch is rendered obtuse in old people, and also in emaciated subjects. Tlii.' 
shrinking and s'nivellin^ of the skin coiislitule the first indications of llie ap- 
jifoach of old age, and of signs of decay and decrepitude fiom that cause. In 
most cases they may be postponed, and the life prolonged several years, by the 
liinely and frequent use ol the warm, or what is better, the vapor bath, which 
causes a relaxation < ' the capillaries of the smface, tiiid counteracts the 
elf 'CIS above-mentioned. The writer is indebted to Oarvvin lor this suggestion. 
Ba-^L-J Oil -■^■mnd jiliilosonl'.y. its correctness cannot be ijueslioiicd. 



OS Edacaiiunof the Senses. 

tip of llie tongue, and the liand, more particularly the ends of 
the fingers, are the parts which possess the touch in its most 
exalted degree. The exaltation of the touch in these parts, is 
owing partly to tlieir being more copiously supplied with 
vessels circulating rod blood, and partly to the arrangement 
of their papillce ; which, together with their connection with 
numerous muscles of volition, constitute their greater fitness 
to be employed as the instruments of this sense. It should 
be kept in mind, and therefore it is so often repeated, that 
this connection of the senses with the voluntary muscles, 
forms the basis upon which, according to our theory, all ed- 
ucational etforts must mainly depend. I\erhaps it would be 
no groat exaggeration, were we to say, that the improve- 
ment of this sense as an organ of intellect, by education, re- 
sults almost exclusively, from the employment of those mus- 
cles. Hallcr defines touch to be that sense which takes cog- 
nizance of resistance alone. In the present connection, wc 
pui'pose to confine its function to that resistance, which bo- 
dies composing the external world, make to parts of our 
bodies pressed against them by the action of our own mus- 
cles. In this sense only, is the faculty of touch susceptible 
of improvement by education, because when brought by this 
means in contact with surrounding objects, it is under the 
control of the will, and is thus employed for the purpose of 
acquiring knowledge. In tliis view of the subject, it must 
be admitted that the perceptions by this sense are of a very 
limited character ; but they are not liable ti.i tlie errors which 
pertain to those of the sight and hearing, which so often ex- 
tend their researches into the vast fields of illimitable space. 
The relation whii'h toui-h has to sight, has given rise to 
much discission ;unong the learned ; and it is still a contro- 
verted (|uestion, whether our ideas of distant^c, extension, and 
figure, are gained by touch alone : but we ihiidc that enough 
was said while treating of the education of the eye and ear, 
and especially that of the former, to convince any candid per- 
son that bolii these senses arc in I'act capable of talving am- 
i)lc cognizance of thc:-e properties of mailer, and thai llie 



Touch. 69 

eye is indeed tiie organ most conmioiily riniiloycd in judging 
ot" extension, ligure, and distance. 

Tiie process for the education of this sense is analogous to 
that of the sense of hearing, and in fact, of all the other sens- 
es. On account of the gretiter facility with which the eye 
takes cognizance of matter subjected to its inspection, it 
should be covered in all our attempts at improvement of the 
other organs of sense. This hint has probablj- been deriv- 
ed from the fact laniiliar to a.ll, that the otiier senses, and es- 
pecially those of hearing and touch, are so much improved 
when the sight is lost. Let the pupil then be hoodwinked, 
and try to distinguisii different metals, wood, and persons, 
by the feel : then endeavor to denominate pieces of coins, 
&c. In doing this, the ditlerent degrees of temperatiu'e 
should be regarded ; because thi- sensations in this respect, 
depend on the powers of conducting caloric which is ])ccu- 
liar tjo each metal. If the sensations of heat and cold are to 
be regarded ;is belonging fo the touch, the rule of judging of 
them is quite independent of nuiscular action.* 

These sensations are chicliy confined lo parts of the Ixjdy 
obnoxious to the \-ieissitudes of lemperature, the physical 
causes producing them; and as the agencies of these causes, 
if much increased or tiiminished, might lie attended with 
very injurious consequences the sensations tliey produce are 
desigii(?d to preserve us, by a timely intimation thnt certain 
cluinges are going on in p;u1s exposed, incompatible with 
the due pcrtin'mance of i'unrtion or even with the continuance 
of organizaliiiU. 



- Il lias been rnni'i-liirfj ili.il. r. ililT.Mcnl r-el of nerves have liecn pnvideil 
for the lecngnitmn of the sensations ol'hcat and cold ; hut wv ihnik the nerves, 
like the capillaries, are precisely the same in all parts of the hudy, and that their 
peculiar perceptive faeiillies and fiinei.ons arise from the peculiar tissues with 
which they are surroiinjeil, and which so modify their rommoa senslhility as to 
enable them to experience and transmit to the sensoriiim this or that feeling ; and 
that ihcy arc from the same causes and m like manner ciis^iialified for different 
percrptionr.. 

fi 



70 Education of the. Senses. 

Relaxation or contraction of the capillaries constitutes the 
physical changes which give rise to the sensations of heat 
and cold ; and it should be remembered that these sensations, 
as has been suggested, maybe produced by those states of the 
vessels independent of their physical causes, i. e. the addition 
or abstraction of caloric. The degree of sensation indicates 
the degree of contraction or relaxation, rather than the in- 
tensity of the physical cause. 

OF DIMENSION, EXTENSION, DISTANCE, &C. 

Tliese arc the legitimate objects to be regarded in the ed- 
ucation of the touch. The pupil bUndfolded should be made to 
pass his finger, hand, or foot, over a graduated measure, and 
note how much certain muscles must be made to contract in 
order to carry the member over, or along a certain space. 
In this way the properties of space may be judged of after 
considerable experience, with wonderful accuracy. Math- 
ematical figui-es, solid or superficial, should be made the 
subjects of experiment. In the sa)ne way the relative size 
and position of things, may be ascertained. I knew a young 
gentleman, blind either from liirth, or very early infancy 
who subsequently attended medical lectures ; became a good 
anatomist, and as I was informed, passed a satisfactory ex- 
amination, and received his degree in due form. Whether 
he ever attempted to practice his profession I have not had 
the means of knowing.* 



* This young gentleman atlended ihree courses of my lectures on anatomy. 
When lecturing on osteology, 1 always took care to put the several hones upon 
v.'liich I was discovn'sing into his hands, and soon had the pleasure to find that he 
was following me in the demonstration by passing the hand over the several parts 
which were being described. He was also in the habit of coming to the table and 
examining the subject, and tracing out in the same manner the muscles, blood- 
vessels, and various other solt parts, as the viscera, &c. &c. In the daily class ex- 
amii'.alions, he made much fewer mislaUes than w-ae to have been expected. I 
was parUcularly struck with the accuracy of his knowledge of the relative situa- 
tion of parts, and took great pleasure and pains lo assist him in educating 
sense of touch. I recollect his coming into my lecture room one even- 
in", when Dr. (iridlcy lather jocosely said lo him, " Demming, tell us 



Touch. 71 

Tlie young goiitleman above alluded to was aljlc to distin- 
guish many colors hy the feel, but was unable to exjilain to 
nic the principles upon which his judgments were formed. 

OF WEIGHT. 

It is very questionable whether gravity has any relation 
to the sense ol' touch. In our opinion, it more particularly 
respects the muscles, or rather the degree of force with 
which they must contract, in order to raise a bod\- from the 
ground, or to remove it from the place in which it stands. 
In either of these cases, trials should be made upon bodies, 
whose weight has been previously ascertained : our stand- 
ard weights, for instance. When the degree of contraction 
has been noted again and again, or with a sufficient number 
of repetitions to give the pupil a standard within liimself. 
the experiment may be extended to other bodies. 

I'LEASCRE AM) PAIN'. 

These sensations have been, as suggested in a firmer ]iart 
of this jiaper, attributed to the sense of touch ; but very erro- 
noouslv so in the opinion of the writer. Every part, every 
tissue of the body as well as the organs proper In ihe senses, 
may be the scat of pain. This sensation is always owing to 
an over-contracted, or an over-distended state ol' the capil- 
laries of the part in which it is located. If those vessels be 
constricted, or inordinately contracted, poin is experienced ; 
if only slightly constricted, the sensation will be uneasiness. 
rather than decided positive pain. Suppose '.\ to indicate 



whether tlie room is lighted or not." Aller a moment's pausi- he replied, " Ra- 
ther badly lighted, sir, only two lamps burning." " True," says the doctor 
"but how do you know it ! How do you know that there are two lamps, or 
any lamps at all ! May there not be a candle or two V " I know," replied 
Demming, " there are two lights, and I'lat they are lamps, hy the rrackling which 
they make in burning, which is different from that made by the burning of can- 
dles." Neither the Doctor nor myself could hear the crackhng of which he spake 
with so much confidence. This showed that the ediicaiiou of anoiher sense had 
not been negelrted. 



72 Education of the Senses. 

the state of distention wliicli is natural to these vessels, and 
consequently, that in which no sensation whatever is expe- 
rienced : then suppose a cause of an irritating nature to be 
applied to their inner surfaces which stimulates them to 
contract down to 2, uneasiness will be felt ; if it 
stimulate still more, and cause the vessels to contract 
to ], pain will be expei'ienced ; and we shall be prompt- 
ed to seek relief; if the contraction be still greater, 
the pain will be more violent, and the vessels will, from 
their vehement efforts to contract, lose their vitality : 
in other words, they will contract until they die. On the 
other hand, taking 3 as before, for the natural standard of full- 
ness, if the vessels be distended to 4, there will be as in the 
case of moderate contraction, uneasiness; if to 5, pain ; the 
vessels will resist painfully, if to 0, or upward, the pain will 
be violent, because the vessels resist forcibly, painfully ; and 
will soon lose tiieir vitality as sometimes haj)pens in neglect- 
ed, mal-trcatcd, or intense inllammation. In the former case, 
the pain from over-contraction will be attended with a 
shrinking or diminution of the size of the part ; and if many 
vessels be involved in the affection, or if its seat be in an 
important organ, the vessels of the skin will do what the 
vessels of the part affected do, i. e. contract or shrink (and 
tills is what we always mean liy organic sympathy ; when 
we say that one part sympathizes with another, we mean 
that it, as a whole, or that its vessels do what the part pri- 
marily affected, or its vessels do,) and a sense of chilliness 
will be experienced. 

Pain from over-contraction, is relieved by whatever in- 
duces the vessels to relax, as fomentations, warm bath, 
friction, opium, &,c. Examples of pain from this cause are 
exhibited in chronic rheumatism, in the cold stage of inter- 
mittents, and in various other analogous diseases. Pain 
from cold or the abstraction of caloric is of tiiis kind. The 
other variety of pain, which arises from an over-distended 
state of the vessels, in which they are not only put upon the 
stretch, but arc stimulated to resist 'painfully, is relieved by 



PIvditurc and I'/rin. 7.'i 

flie ubstracll'in ol' fluids, &c., ami also by narcotics, wlii(;li, 
by lessening the sensibility ol' the vessels, prevent their feel- 
ing impulses from within, and induce them to forego their 
resistance, and relax ; but in order to make this relief per- 
manent, the activity and force of the heart must be consider- 
ably abated, otherwise the vessels which have been indu- 
ced to relax or to forego their resistance, will again be 
fully distended, and we shall foon have them again put upon 
the stretch ; the consequence of which, will be violent re- 
sistance, and a renewal of the pain. Examples of this kind 
of pain are to be found in inflammation, acute rheumatism, 
tonic gout, &c., ifcc. The nerves, which are distributed to, 
and preside over the organs of organic life, as the stomach, 
bowels, glands, and the capillaries of nutrition throughout 
the whole system, have ganglia placed U))on them, which 
intercept and prevent the transmission to tiic sensorium of 
sensations pertaining to organic life, so long as they are 
consistent with the healthy perlormance of lunction. Of 
course, those sensations never reach the mind until that 
contingency ceases, and actions incompatible with the regu- 
lar and due pertbrniance of function begin ; but when such 
actions, as interfere with, and derange the function, or en- 
danger the structure of organs or parts do begin, then, as 
the nerve itself is continued on through the ganglions to 
the brain or spinal marrow, changes will take place in the 
brain or sensorium conmnine, which will awaken conscious- 
ness in the mind ; until this happens, the structures and tis- 
sues pertaining to organic life, cannot be considered as or- 
gans of sense; as has been intimated, that they might be. 
The perception of these changes is unpleasant, or pain- 
ful, and prompts us to desire and seek relief, but it is not 
(although the cause of intelligence.) calculated, except, so 
far as the means of relief are concerned, to enlarge the 
field of knovvluilge, or augment intellectual power. 

But not so with the five senses. On their nerves, no ganglia 
are placed ; there is, therefore, no interlerencc with tlie 
transmission of intelligence of the changes which are going 



74 Education of the Senses. 

on in tliem. ' Their appropriate and peculiar stimuli pro- 
duso cliangcs, which it may be, and most probably arc, 



* To ihis doctrine, an objection miglu be raised, from the fact that ganglia 
are placed on the posterior fasciculi of all the spinal and some of the cerebral 
nerves which are, by common consent, admitted to l>e neiTes of sensation, and 
particularly subservient to the sense of touch ; upon a little reflection, however, it 
will be obvious that this is not only not repugnant to, but in perfect accordance 
with our doctrine ; — that it should be so, if that doctrine be true. These poste- 
rior fasciculi not only render the parts to which they are distributed sensitive, but 
transmit to the organ of mind the perception of those changes which constitute 
sensation. Now then, as circulation, secretion, nutrition, and functions of organic 
life, are going on in the parts to which these fasciculi are sent, as well as the other 
actions and changes, it is necessary that ganglia should be placed on them, or 
that some other arrangement should exist by which the perception of those chan- 
ges belonging to organic life should be internipted and utterly prevented, so long 
as they are consistent with health. Again, it might be urged that changes pe- 
culiar to organic action are perpetually going on in parts to which the nerves 
exclusively appropriated to the other senses, as sight, hearing, taste and smell, 
as well as to touch, are sent, and that therefore ganglia should have been placed 
upon them for the reasons already assigned ; but it should be recollected that these 
very changes are wrought by vessels which are supplied by nerves from the gan- 
gliac system, and that the nerves peculiar to any sense are not required to take 
cognizance of them. This, it is beleved, is a full answer to these objections. 
The importance of this subject, perhaps, warrants a further consideration. Me- 
chanical distention, which is alternately applied and withdrawn, is the natural 
stimulus, which prompts the capillaries of organic life, to which the gangliac sys- 
tem is appropriated, to act ; and the nerves of this system take cognizance of 
the state of those vessels only, which respects their contraction or dilatation, con- 
striction or rela.\ation, and especially so when either is abnormal. The senses 
of taste and smell are e.Kcited by the chemical properties of matter, the sense of 
hearing simply by its undulations, vibrations, or oscillations, and the sense of 
sight by a property of matter, as some suppose, which is termed light, or as others 
think by a luminiferous ether. In neither of these cases is it known that the ap- 
propriate stimuli in their ordinary action effect the capacity of the vessels con- 
nected with the organic actions of those senses ; and if they did, as they may, 
and perhaps sometimes do, when acting intensely or with more than their usual 
power, the nerves which belong to the gangliac system would take cognizance of 
these irregularities. If the capillaries were stimulated to action by any irritating 
qualities in the fluids which they circulate, they would, according to the law 
already glanced at, lose their susceptibility for that particular impression ; for the 
fluids containing the irritating quality are always present, and therefore would 
be always in contact with the inner surfaces of the vessels ; the necessary con- 
sequence of such a contingency would be the derangement of function, and ul 
tiniately a chan':;e of structure and orgTnization. Organic disease would follow. 



Pkasure and Fain. 75 

mere contractions or relaxations, modified by the structure 
peculiar to tiie organ, wliicii are perceived and transmitted 
to the Ijrain by the nerves adapted by the same pecuUarity 
of structure for this or tiiat pocuhar function, and of course, 
can do notSiing else. If these changes produced in the or- 
gans of sense, be mere contractions or dihitntions, modified 
by the peculiarity of structure, then they will, as the one or 
the other prevails, be attended with pleasure or pain, 
which will also be perceived by the nerve at the same time 
that the change itself is perceived. If the contraction, or 
relaxation be no more than ordinary, there will be neitiier 
pleasure nor pain, and consequently, no emotion will accom- 
pany the perception of change elTectcd in tlie organ, by the 
object wiiich is acting upon it ; the residt will be, that of 
simple cognition ; but if the contraction or relaxation be 
more than common, pleasure or p;iin will certainly accom- 
pany the perception of change, and tlie idea will be pleasur- 
able or painful, and instantly I'ollovvcd by desire or aversion. 
The [lains and pleasures of sense are. like knowledge, pro- 
duced directly or indirectly by objects exterior to the body, 
(;dl of whicli have a greater or less tendency to p]-oduce 
them,) and are realized by that sense only whose adapted- 
ness lits it to acquire the knowledge of the entity whose 
properties are calculated to call that sense into action. For 
instance, the pleasure derived from colors, can be expe- 
rienced only through the medium of the sight, the sense 
from which alone, we derive our knowledge of color. It 
should not, however, be forgotten that the same feelings 
may arise from the mere action of the capillaries of the 
sense in the entire absence of their appropriate physical 
causes. Feelings produced in this way, belong to the 
imagination, and constitute its pleasures and its pains. If 
contraction or relaxation of the capillaries beyond the ordi- 
nary degree be the physical cause of pleasure or of pain in 
the senses, then it follows that every entity has a tendency 
to produce these feelings in the sense upon which they arc 
fitted to operate. II' I bring uj) 1o my recollection, a land- 



76 liducalion of the Senses. 

scape or prospect which I have examined ; or a scene 
through wliich I have passed, the several senses which 
were called into activity by the objects which at first oper- 
ated on them will again become active and perform the 
same actions, and the same ideas will be produced and be 
accompanied by the same feelings. In all such cases the 
effect is the necessary result of experience. In regard to 
the feelings belonging to this class, which are ever disposed 
to transcend reality, prudence would seem to dictate that 
we should always endeavor to compare those which refer 
to the past or the future, with those actually cxperienctd or 
realized, in order to prevent our being exercised with an 
undue degree of regret for such as have been lost, or disap- 
pointment when we enter upon the enjoyment of those 
which have been in prospect. In the contingency men- 
tioned, the pleasure or pain is as much the necessary result 
as the conception of the object or any of its properties ; but 
it should be remarked that the intensity of the feeling, as 
well as the vividness of the idea, may be increased by the 
attention voluntarily exerted. The principles upon which 
this fact depends have already been enumerated and ex- 
plained. As attention is under the control of the will ; as 
feelings with nine-tenths of the world become motives to 
action ; as all agencies acting upon the body, and especially 
upon the senses, have the power of modifying the actions 
which they excite ; and as there are properties in every 
agent which are fitted to produce pleasurable or painful leel- 
int^s, the puiiil should early be taught in all cases to fix his 
attention as much as possible upon those of the first class ; 
by which procecdure. his feelings and consequent conduct 
will be such, as greatly to ])romote his own happiness, and 
that of those about liiin. It is owing to the neglect of this 
rule, that so many persons find something in almost every- 
thing to cavil at ; an infirmity, exceedingly prevalent in our 
own country; with tlie English, it is quite national : espe- 
cially, if anything French, be the subject of consideration. 
Let the pufiil be taught ever to look upon the "bi-iglit side' 



Touch. 77 

Riglit feeling, and right acting, depend upon right tliink- 
ing ; and right thinking, upon right education ; which, is 
therefore, inseparably connected with the lnjpcs and happi- 
ness of man, ibr time and eternity ; and also with his coun- 
try's weal, her woe, her glory. The best educated men, 1 
mean in the broadest acceptation of the term, will be the 
best and most efficient men. They will be the men of pow- 
er, and the men in power ; the rulers of the nations ; the 
sovereigns of the world ! knowledge is power ! 

li'this, then, be so, the philanthropist and the patriot must 
feel with solemn concern, the importance of having the prin- 
ciples of education, rightly and thoroughly understood, and 
judiciously carried out in practice. This nation, composed of 
sovereign states, Vv'ith their own separate governments, and 
embracing a vast cxlcnt of territory, with almost every 
variety oi' climate, soil and i)roduction, has consequently, 
so many, and such diverse interests, tliat apart from the 
form of its government, it can hardly bo said, to possess 
'• that unity of sentiment and interest, which mnlces men 
feel, and act as one social body,'" and which constitutes 
nationnlity. The writer would therefore suggest, for the 
consideration of tlic citizens of this great republic, that 
measures be taken for devising and establishing a system of 
education with "•the Bihle, without note or comnient," for 
one of its elementary l>ooks, wliicii may concentrate the 
feelings and afTections of the people, promote " the reign 
of mild peace" among ourselves, and the notions of the 
earth, and give character and perpetuity to our own glo- 
rious Union and its Institutions. 



APPENDIX. 



Tlie mind during our wai-iing hours, and also porliaps during 
sleep, is continually engaged in some active mode of thinking, and 
this fact, of which none will doubt, goes to establish the analogy 
between the brain as the organ of mind and other organs, as the 
liver or salivary glands, which go on forming bile or saliva all the 
wliile, whether we will or not ; in like manner the brain goes on 
forming ideas, whether we will or not. This may be termed spon- 
taneous thinking, and is attended with no etTort of the will, and 
is of course without fatigue. Whether we shall think or not, is 
no more optional than it is whether bile or saliva shall be secre, 
ted. The brain forms ideas just as the liver forms bile, and with 
no more ellbrt ; but by fixing the attention, (i. e. the immediate 
direction of the mind,) upon an entity, the brain spontaneously 
forms ideas of it. This may be termed one species of voluntary 
thinking, and is very easily performed, and therefore attended 
with little or no fatigue. It is undoubtedly the mode pursued by 
all great thinkers. One of our most profound statesmen, whose 
gigantic intellect towers above all others in the land, when once 
questioned concerning his mode of investigating subjects by which 
he was led to such stupendous results, replied that he only placed 
the subject before him, and watched the workings of his own 
mind in relation to it. Tliis was to iiim mere spontaneous think, 
ing ; the onh' voluntary effort required or employed was simply 
that ol'fjxing and keeping the mind directed to, or in other words, 
the attention fixed upon the subject, which cost at the most but 
little comparative elfort. In the case above alluded to, it required 
scarcely an efl'ort, it having been the habit of the distinguished 
individual. Now, the attention is generally under the control of 
the will ; but somolimos it is not, and therefore when a subject 
greally interests us, we cannot, for the reason just assigned, help 
thinking of it. The attention is fixed upon it, and the brain 
keeps forming ideas concerning it.* It is still the spontaneous 
mode of thinking under the control of the attention, or in company 



* Hold an object before the mind ; concentrate the tlionghts upon it ; and soon 
it will glow, or at least become Inminoiij. 

I 



Appendix. ' T.) 

with it, and ma}' bo of little use, for unless stvirdy Matcliod, llio 
niinil will go on firming the same ideas, (i e. tiiinking in a oircde,) 
of flic subject which is thus kept before it. To prevent tliis, a 
stronger effort of the will must be invoked, and the cajiiUary vessels 
of the brain compelled to perform new actions, that tlie views of the 
intellect may be extended; in many instancesoriginality of thought 
will he the result. Reasoning from analogy, wc should infer 
that the process of thinking, like the secretion of bile, is carried 
on during sleep ; but in a manner of wliich we are quite as un- 
conscious as wc are of secretion, or of any other function of or- 
ganic life. Ganglia are placed upon the nerves going to the 
liver, (and also to all other parts connected with the functions 
of organic life,)1 upon whose influence the secretiun of liile de. 
pends ; by which anatomical arrangement all consciousness of 
such an operation in the liver, even in our waking hours, is pro- 
vented ; but another methodof preventing the consciousness of cere- 
bral action during sleep, has been devised by the all-wise Ma- 
ker of our bodies. The better to understand this subject, we 
must take a brief piiysiological view of the phenomena of sleep, 
the final end of which is, the repose of the system by suspending all 
its voluntary powers, mental and corporeal. When sleep is per- 
fect, all consciousness both in regard to the actions of the body 
and of external agencies is lost, consequently all, except such as 
belong to organic life, (of which, when normal, the individual is 
likewise unconscious,) cease to i)e carried on, and the whole sys- 
tem is reduced to a condition analogous to that which is pccniiarlv 
appropriated to organic lifi". Tlie question which we propose 
mainly to consider, is, the nature of the cause of sleep, and the 
manner in which it operates to induce that state. The cause, we 
think, is a certain degree of pressure, or perhaps more propnly 
speaking, compression of the meiiullary substance of the brain. 
This doctrine that sleep is caused by the compression of the me- 
dullary or parenchymatous substance of tlio brain, we shall now 
endeavor to prove, and then proceed to show in what way lliat 
effect is produced. 

1. It is a well known fact that mechanical pressure, whetlii'r 
from extravasated fluids, or from other causes, with which (he 
surgeon is more particularly conversant, is capable of dcstroyiisg 



80 • AppendiT. 

all consciousness, and inducing a lethargic state of the gravest 
character. 

2. The sense of fulness about the ibrehead and eyebrows ; the 
flush of the cheeks and redness of the eyes, clearly betoken 
that an increased quantity of blood has been received into those 
parts, and as the brain and its meninges, parts within the scull, 
receive their blood from the same vessels as the parts without, 
the inference is fully warranted that this increased determination 
of blood to the head obtains as well in the internal as in the ex- 
ternal parts, in which the signs of it are so conspicuous. With- 
out adducing other arguments, as this point will probably be con- 
ceded, we shall proceed to inquire how this increased flow of 
blood to the brain is produced. That it is not occasioned by an 
increased action of the heart, is clear, from the fact that during 
sleep the pulse is slower and weaker than it is when we are 
awake ; if, then, it be not attributable to an increased activity of 
that organ, it will follow, as a necessary consequence, that relax- 
ation of the capillaries of the face and brain is the cause to which 
we must look for an explanation of the phenomena of sleep. This 
view of the case is fully justified by tlie phenomena themselves ; 
the conjunctiva becomes red ; the cheeks flushed ; a sense of ful- 
ness about the forehead and eyebrows is experienced ; the muscles 
of the face and neck relax, and presently the eyes close ; the 
mouth opens, and the head rests upon the chest, and finally, if 
there be no mechanical impediments, the whole body falls pros- 
trate ; phenomena exhibiting a state of relaxation not only of the 
capillaries of the brain, but of the whole muscular system con- 
nected with voluntary motion.* The recumbent posture assumed 



* This is in full accordance witli a law of the system, alluded to in ihia pnper, 
which is, that increased contraction or resistance is sooner or later followed liy a 
spontaneous relaxation which is usually proportionate with the previous contrac- 
tion. If the vessels of the brain have been made to labor with unwonted energy 
in voluntary efforts, intellectual or corporeal, the relaxation which spontaneously 
follows will be commensurate and the sleep proportionally profound. 

Again, I would remark that this state of relaxation, on the approach of sleep 
is attended with pleasure, either as a cause or an ellect, and this fact, (i. e the con- 
nection of pleasure with relaxation,) which has been dwelt upon and explained 
when another part of our subject was under consideration, goes far to corroborate 
the position which has been taken. 



Appendix. 81 

by the body, is, that which is, philosophically consijored, tiic most 
favorable for repose, as well as for the complete turgesconee of 
the vessels of the brain, and without which, sleep is seldom pro- 
found, or completely refreshing. We may further remark that 
the etfect is not confined, as is too generally supposed, to the 
voluntary powers ; but is extended to the functions of organic life ; 
therefore, respiration, as well as circulation is diminished, and di- 
gestion, secretion, and indeed all iho functions of organic life arc 
carried on during sleep with less energy; and the whole body 
may be truly said to rest. 

By the recumbent posture, the gravity of the blood is taken off, 
and thus the labor of the heart is lessened, and the vessels of the 
brain will continue to be distended until resistance to further dis. 
tension is excited, which will be increased not in the vessels 
of the brain only, but in other parts of the body also, until it either 
forces the blood out of the capillaries of the brain, and thus relieves 
that organ to a certain degree of its compression ; or until the I'c- 
sistance becomes painful, and in either case there will be a partial 
renewal of consciousness, and the sleeper will dream ; or if the 
resistance of the small vessels should change to positive and 
vigorous contraction, the compressing cause will be removed, and 
with its removal the slumbers of the individual will cease, and the 
vessels of the brain resume their wonted action, anil that organ its 
ordinary function of tiiought. If the sleep, however, has been 
protracted and profound, a sense of heaviness in the head and lassi- 
lude of body will be experienced, which will continue for some 
lime before the brain and other organs under its control will take 
on their accustomeii activity. Dreaming and somnolence (and 
perhaps insanity) are notliing more nor less than the spontaneous 
thinking of which we have been speaking, attended with a eon. 
sciousness which varies in degree at ditfercnt times, and under 
dilTercnt- circumstances, but which is always below that of I lie 
waking state, therefore, the greater the consciousness, slion 
of complete wakefulness, the more vivid will be the dream, and 
the more likely to be remembered. If the jjorson dreaming have 
consciousness enough, and a sufficient control of the will to make 
the vessels of the brain iterate the actions which took place while 
dreaming, or in other words, think the dream over again, he will 
bo quite sure to remember it ; but if he neglects to do this, he will 



82 Appendix. 

most assuredly be unable to recollect it, and the more especially 
so, if he fall asleep after having dreamed. People seldom dream 
at the commencement of sleep, or if they do, the dreams are not 
often remembered for the reasons above assigned. Although we 
have np control over the succession of ideas in dreaminc;, and in 
some cases it must be confessed, the connection is quite unaccounta- 
ble, yet I doubt not that ordinarily the same laws of association ob- 
tain in regard to the sequence of thought in that state as in other 
modes of thinking, to wit : " resemblance or analogy ; opposition 
or contrast ; contiguity, or nearness of time and place ; cause and 
elfect ; premises and consequences ;"* all of which may be modi- 
fied by the disposition and habits of thinking peculiar to each indi- 
vidual. Upon this principle 1 have very often been able to ex- 
plain my own and the dreams of others. f The senses do not all 
fall asleep at once, but in succession. Those of smell, taste, and 
in fact that of the touch taken in its most extended sense, are 
so slightly connected with volition that we need scarcely regard 
them in connection with sleep, except to say that they are the first 
to come under its influence : the next in order is the sighl, and 
lastly the hearing: and in the transition from sleeping to waking, 
the order is reversed ; the sense of hearing is first awakened, then 
sight, and lastly, touch, smell, and taste. The faculty of 
speech is never called into action, unless the sense of hearing is to 
a certain degree awake : hence it is, that you may for the time 
being, hold conversation with most sleep-talkers. With some, the 
hearing is so dull that it is necessary to speak to them in a louder 
tone, which may be done without the risk of waking them, and not 
unfrequently it is also necessary to repeat questions in order to 
commence or keep up the colloquy. When persons talk in their 
sleep we arc made acquainted with the spontaneous thinking 
which occupies their minds. This sleep-talking afloi'ds very 
satisfactory evidence of the activity of the mind during sleej). 
Without it wo should have been obliged in our present state of 
physiological knowledge, to have depended mainly on the evidence 



* Hedge's Logic. 

+ In this connection tlie dreams of Josepli; of Pliarnoh, his biillcr nnd lin- 
ker, and of Nebuchadnezzar, maybe considered with interest. May not indeed the 
interpretation of dreams depend upon the same principles of association I 



Appendix. 83 

funiislied by analogy, for without the exercise of the will (which 
is the very essence of voluntarily, and which is suspended when 
aleep is comjilote) in some small degree, the process of sjiontano- 
ous thinking would be imperceptible, at least the evidence of it 
would be very imperfect, and dubious. As the will is the faculty 
of the mind, most closely associated with the external senses, it is 
of course the first to yield which it does in aboul the same pro- 
|iortion as it is affiliated to the senses which, as we have seen are 
more or less readily affijcted by the approach of sleep ; hence, as 
tlie hearing becomes more and more awake, the individual is in 
the same proportion more and more disposed to talk, and as the wa- 
king of that sense increases, the locomotive organs, which require 
from the will a much slronger impulse, are put in motion and the 
sleep-lalker becomes a sleep-walker; hence somnambulism. The 
author is fully aware of the difficulty of proving that tliinking goes 
on when we are asleep as well as when we are awake ; but 
the fact that many persons who have been blind for a great num- 
ber of years cositinue to dream of visible objects, goes very far 
in addition to what has been said to settle tlie question in the af- 
firmative.* In such cases it is the action of the capillaries at the 
origin of the optic nerve (or in other words, the spontaneous think- 
ing of visible objects, exactly analogous to what it would have 
been, if the person had not been blind or asleep and was looking at 
the objects of which he was dreaming) which produces the ideas 
peculiar to vision. In fact, the feelings may be and often are 
excited by internal causes alone, as has been shown. A person 
in sleep may feel as if he, himself was bound down by force, or his 
arms may be crossed, and ho may dream that they are so held bv 
anotlier ; and moreover the images of tlie persons performing these 
disagi'eeal)lfi acts may be distinctly formed. In these cases, and 
in numej-oiis others which might be mentioned, the afTerent nerves 
whoso office it is to make the sonsoriuni acquainted with the state 
of the centrifugal organs, especially those of locomotion, convey to 
it intelligence, or excite in it a consciou.sness of the condition of the 
muscles thus circumstanced, while the brain is not sufficiently 
awake to produce the necessary change in the eiferent nerves to 



* This fad may be of some practical consequence, as it show.s that the oj)tic 
nerve Ins not lost its power. 



84 Appendix. 

cause the milscles of the arms to act, and alter tlie position of these 
spell-bound members, although the desire to do so may be awakened, 
and finally so much increased as to become intense and painful, 
just as any other vehement desire ungratified causes pain. Now 
pain, like all other disagreable impressions produces contraction, 
and in this case it causes it in the capillary vessels of the brain, 
and of the spinal marrow, at the origin of the nerves which go to 
the muscles of the arms, and what takes place there, likewise takes 
place at the otlier, the peripiieral extremity of the nerves, and con- 
sequently in the capillaries of the muscles; and what all the 
vessels of a single muscle (or of a nuniljcr) do, the same will the 
muscle or muscles do ; — that is, contract and move the limbs, 
and with the movement of them, the night-mare also ceases*. It 
might be not only amusing, but instructive, and perhaps useful to 
trace out the analogy which the writer thinks exists between 
spontaneous thinking, dreaming, and insanity. It might suggest 
hints relative to the treatment of that malady. 

The education of the muscles having been omitted as a 
distinct topic, the writer would barely suggest, tliat to the 
mechanic, it is a subject of grave import. Every appren- 
tice, while learning his trade, especially, if it bo one of light 
labour, should be taught and urged to work fast, and soon he 
will acquire the habit of doing so ; of worki ng all the while 
as if upon a wager ; and he will then do it with as much 
ease and as little fatigue as if he worked to the "tune of 
Old Hundred." Thus learned, ho will accomplish nearly 
twice as inuch ; consequently, be twice as useful ; do twice 
the good, and be more valuable in the community than any 
two drones, and may expect a double reward. Let this 
method of learning trades be adopted, and soon we shall 
have few mechanics of the old school ; and llwij will be fur 
in the back ground. 



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